Fireshot slammed his fist down, "This is outrageous! We cannot allow this transgression to go unanswered! If the Decepticon report is accurate, then our defenses have a major flaw!"

Fractyl was quick to point blame, "Preditron, Doublecross, weren't the two of you charged with establishing our defenses? How did such a large group get through our borders unnoticed?"

Preditron was just as quick to defend his efforts, "The Maximal leader, Lio Convoy, is personally leading an investigation into the situation at the border. We will have our answers. Regardless, this all proves what we feared most. There is a traitor working to undermine us."

As much of a stir as that declaration caused, the small Gredator was the first to raise another concern, "Even should we believe that someone has betrayed us, we need to ensure that another group cannot attempt to follow that path."

Crosscut tried to stop the arguing to calm minds for a moment, "From the report we received from the Decepticons, it appears they were creating a type of energy distortion field. That could cause a void in any detection. Perhaps it even prevented communication as well."

Botanica raised another concern, "Assuming we can trust the Decepticon report, should we not be concerned how our people will react should word reach their ear?"

Fireshot quickly rose up, "Listen here, plant. The only reason you have your seat is because of how many you've brainwashed into your movement. That doesn't mean we need to listen to you!"

Rhinox finally stepped into the conversation, "Enough! Botanica has earned her position among us. She and her technorganic advances have provided new perspective and advantages none of us could say we have provided since we arrived on this planet."

Botanica was now holding up a map of her own, "My first concern is why the Decepticons had a force in the vicinity so close to the border. Second, even if they had sensors that could detect the Zoids, assuming they did mask their presence, why did they not attempt to warn us before attacking? So far, they have caused quite a bit of discord among the populace, made subtle attempts to undermine us, and recruiting en masse. Can we really believe they are not trying to play us all for fools?"

After a moment of silence fell in the chamber, Doublecross finally spoke, "If that is the case, then is there really anything we can do? Our might has been slipping for some time, we would be no match if they decided to strike now."

Preditron leaned back, "Then there is little else we can do beyond waiting for Lio Convoy and his investigation."

The smoldering remains of outpost Eta appeared to be inert until a small armored creature dug up to the surface as it started to sniff around the area. It paused when a screech echoed overhead, coming from a purple feathered bird high above. The tiny armored creature squeezed its way between some of the rubble, continuing further in as it found the severed arm of a Cybertronian. There was little that could be distinguished about who it once belonged to or what the altmode was.

However, it was further underneath the dirt that was where the real activity was happening. A green clawed arm continued to dig through the dirt. "So, tell me again, why do we have me doing all of the grunt work?"

A red-armored hand pushed his back, "Because I need to manage my equipment above us. And your claws are just as tough as mine."

"Enough, both of you." From behind their leader, Lio Convoy, had returned. "You were chosen for your strengths and tactical assets." He looked to the two arguing Maximals, "And with such a diverse group it makes it harder for anyone to identify where we could be going."

"So, we're just here to distract and confuse anyone too curious for their own good?"

"Indeed Snapper. The main concern involves our Decepticon 'guests'. Stiletto, is everything still clear above us?"

"As far as the eyes can see and the scanners can pick up. Just let me know when we start heading back."

"Armordillo, have you found anything?"

Armordillo was busy working the controls of his drone, "Nothing interesting. Just debris and what few body parts that survived."

"Keep looking. We need to learn all we can about the attack here and how the Zoids managed to breach so deep into our territory undetected."

Snapper stopped his digging, looking back to his boss, "Well I think it's obvious they were shelled to smithereens. No real mystery there."

Armordillo countered, "Even had the Zoids bombarded the base, they would have had plenty of time to contact any nearby forces for reinforcements or to intercept the invaders."

"What's eating your shell? You build this place or something?" Armordillo paused for a moment, looking rather disappointed in himself more than anything.

Lio had to turn the conversation toward something else, "Snapper, what is your assessment of the damage you have seen?"

Snapper was pulling up the visuals being recorded by Stiletto. "Well, if they wanted to cause this amount of damage as quickly, they probably had to bring at least 25 of those cannon turtle Zoids with a constant barrage."

"I don't know…" Stiletto was doubling back, "I don't think they're accurate enough to cause this much damage without more visual evidence."

Lio had to agree, "Even if they were able to accurately attack the base, we're still missing too many pieces to this puzzle."

"Found something!" Armordillo had made his display bigger, changing his little drone as it transformed into a form just like himself with a monitor for a head. What the drone had found was an arm protecting a small case. "An audio log."

"If we're lucky it might have recorded what occurred during the attack."

The drone's arm turned into a port as it tapped into the audio log. "Much of the data is still intact, though I wouldn't dare try moving it. The casing is badly damaged. And with how much debris is up there, I doubt we could recover it physically without losing the data."

"Download what you can. Prioritize the latest data above all else."

Armordillo had already started, "Just so everyone knows, it'll take some time."

Snapper propped himself against a wall, "Well, sounds like we ain't going anywhere anytime soon."

With the plan more or less established on what could work, they still had a number of things that still needed to be formed. Such as the alliance with the Zoidians. Vibes had transformed, waiting for Shepard to enter.

Thashclaw was waiting nearby, "I know we planned our attack with the Zoidians on our side, but don't you think going to them directly now isn't the best idea?"

"If not now then when? Regardless of if it's the right time, we will have to confront them sooner or later. I'd rather we do this as soon as possible before the Decepticons or a group of gung-ho Predacons do something that we can't undo."

Thrashclaw couldn't think of anything in particular, "Well we've already done quite a bit when we first found this planet. I'm not sure there's much else that could be done to them now that we haven't already committed outside of wiping them out."

"Even so, we shouldn't ignore them for too much longer."

"I agree," Shepard opening her passenger door. "We've already reached out to their leadership. If we back down now it may be viewed as weakness or uncaring."

Thrashclaw had no reason to try to stop them, "If you guys get slagged out there, me and my girls will part ways with your group."

Vibes could tell Thrash wasn't big on showing sentimental side, even among her small team. "We'll get back safely. Just worry about how we pull this off and survive."

Legion was approaching her now, leaving Thrashclaw confused. "You're sending them off too?"

"No. I am accompanying Vibes and Shepard-Commander."

"Having you drive all the way to their capital is a tall order in of itself, but I don't think they'd be too happy with a bitesize synthetic like yourself among them."

Legion was moving toward Vibes' trunk, "I will be the backup should plans fail." He started loading Vibes with a few weapons and bags. Legion himself got inside, entering her back seat.

Tali hadn't left Shepard's side until he got inside of Vibes. "I know how self-sacrificing the three of you can be, so try not to go overboard out there."

"If we're lucky something like that won't be necessary."

"Statistically, luck is not a mathematical factor that cannot be quantified. However, Shepard-Commander does have an unusually high probability of encountering danger."

"Gee, thanks." Shepard turned to Tali, rubbing her arm before kissing the side of her helmet, "We'll keep each other safe. Just keep everyone here on high alert."

Vibes' holomatter appeared in the driver seat, though alter from her previous one. She had a gold visor like her true Cybertronian form has, and her pigtails aren't as prominent. She was wearing armor that appeared to take aspects from the Alliance and quarians into something a bit more artistic in presentation. "Are you ready Breakaway?"

"The skies will be clear as the crystals. They won't even see me overhead." He got to a running start before jumping and transforming into his jet form. He immediately pulled up, flying high above the clouds.

When Breakaway disappeared from view, Thashclaw activated something much to Vibes' surprise. "Is this?"

"Yep. Just make sure you don't use it too long around the Zoidians. Shred will monitor it if you need anything. Not sure what could be done that far away." It was still a nice gesture, even if she did have to mask it. Vibes shifted gears and zoomed off. The drive would take them a few days, so it was going to be interesting how well things would turn out. Thrashclaw turned back without much care, "I'm going to check on Gnash to make sure she's not chewing on one of the medics."

Krok didn't have any real trouble getting back into the Decepticon swing, though he had to play it down a little and act like a stranger in all of this. He was also glad that none of the real Decepticons recognized him. Then again, he wasn't really a known member even when he was active. He had a few run-ins with that Depth Charge character that were far from friendly. Though it was a cover that easily held up and he played along. So far, his experience and time wasn't too bad, not dissimilar to when he was a Decepticon, though he could see some of the disdain the real Decepticons had for those like him with beast forms.

So far things weren't too dissimilar to the early days of the Decepticons. He even saw the unrest they were seeding among the Predacons and Vehicons on the status quo for the lack of action against the organics. While on his own he wanted to continue to explore the capital to see how the Autobots could avoid causing too much damage to the citizens.

While traveling along the surface he accidentally ran into someone turning the corner. Much to his surprise, the Vehicon looked an awful a lot like Thundercracker. This bot quickly noticed the insignia on Krok's shoulders. He was slightly concerned, keeping calm as he got himself back up, "Sorry."

Krok saw the Decepticon insignias on his blue wings, "I should be sorry. I didn't realize one of you guys were down here too."

"Uh…no. I'm not one of those Decepticons. I just wanted to show some…support to our Vehicon brothers and sisters by taking on a form of our great founder Thundercracker. I'm just not sure about needing to fight."

Krok understood though he wanted to get more from the bot. "I know what you mean, though I think the lackluster push from the council and Maximals just doesn't sit well with me. Though I am started to question how well it will work out for us if war breaks out in full."

The seeker nodded, "Yes, you mean if the Decepticons would be willing to fight for the benefit of Predacons and Vehicons who haven't joined them. Or if those like you might just be used as fodder."

Krok was familiar with such a thought from his days on Cybertron before ending up as a Neutral. "Or they'd just abandon all of us…"

"That is a possibility too," obviously trying to underplay how right he was about what the Decepticons would probably do. "For now, we can only wait and see. Perhaps a fourth faction could cause a raucous and throw a wrench into the grinder." The Seeker started walking away, leaving Krok to ponder on whether or not he wanted the Autobots to attack or act openly in some other degree.

Breakaway had a hard time avoiding the trees thanks to his wings, though he was fortunate that his wings were mailable enough that they didn't snap any branches or cause too much noticeable damage. The clearing they were using for their camp was large enough for both Vibes and Breakaway to at least sit without being exposed.

"The scanners are all in place. Not even a scraplet will be able to get through without us knowing. So long as one of us have an optic on our sensors."

Vibes set up one last device in their camp, "Good, now we can rest up for the next day."

Breakaway looked down to the Commander as he set up a mat, "Not to sound rude, but we could have reached the Zoidian city by now. And retrieving the scanners will eat up more of our time."

Vibes wasn't worried, "Those scanners weren't meant to be recovered. They become unsalvageable roughly after a solar cycle so we don't need to worry about them."

When Shepard was finished with his mat, he turned to the two Autobots, "You know, I could have just slept while you drove on Vibes. We don't have to stop."

"I'm sure you could," Vibes glanced to Legion, "But I'd rather we coordinate our timing with organic limitations. It'd be rather uncordial if we arrived and the Zoidians we need to speak with weren't active yet. And sorry for using you as an equivalent to an alarm clock."

Shepard was fine with that, "It's not like you've made yourself accustom to organic needs."

Legion was quick to point out, "Geth are familiar with organic limitations. We have studied many over the long years of isolation. It was helpful to an extent."

Vibes looked up to the stars, "Well, we may not have a complete understanding of your physiological limitations, but I believe we Cybertronians have a closer understanding of your psychology, even if we may not know it. We just have different terminology for many of our specific characteristics."

Breakaway wasn't too sure, "Well a lot of this sounds like it's all above my processing power. Then again I suppose being part of an in-between generations of M.T.O.s when they stopped putting cultural and psychological tests before throwing us into battle doesn't help matters much."

Shepard could only imagine what being built just for war must be like for him. "At least now you have the chance to choose what you want to do."

"Perhaps, but some of us still chose to fight regardless."

Legion understood, "We are sometimes predisposed to follow our limitations." Though he turned to Shepard, "But that does not have to define who we are and what we chose."

"Something that everyone should know or learn." Shepard started to stretch, not so much tired as it had felt more like a long day, "Normally I'd volunteer for the first shift, but I'm assuming I shouldn't be concerned about that."

Breakaway had finally adjusted himself to be somewhat more comfortable with sitting on the ground. "Should anything important happen, you'll be alerted." As the Commander turned in to sleep, Breakaway turned to Vibes, "So, we just silently watch and wait now?"

"No. There is a place we can talk, though you'll need to open your mind to the process." Breakaway wasn't sure if he was going to like where this might lead. Vibes was smiling as she turned to Legion. Looking down, the smaller machine's single large optic started to glow brighter like the blinding light of the new day's sun before everything seemed to fade away.

"…So, there we were, a whole hive of Reaper mutated rachni standing between us and the surface. I knew what needed to be done. I told Shepard and his team to evac while I held them off. There were hundreds of them, and I tore through them with everything I had. When they knocked me down and I lost my shotgun, I ripped a cannon off one and continued to smash 'em. And when I jammed it into the face of one I charged into one and knocked it off a cliff. After that when things get hazy from the blood rage."

Gnash was as close as she could get to Grunt, "No, tell more! Must tell!"

Shred was also impressed, though not exactly from the story, "I've never seen Gnash so invested. She's practically standing on her toes to listen to more."

"Gnash want to hear more fighting stories."

Garrus stepped in, "Then why don't we tell her some stories about the final battle against the Reapers on Earth? There we were, a united galaxy up against the greatest threat any of us had ever known."

James hopped in too, "A whole line of Reapers, 2 kilometers long each, orbiting Earth and just waiting for us."

While Grunt, Garrus, and James continued to entertain Gnash, Tali had a question for Thrashclaw. "I know that your current name couldn't be your original name. So, what was it?"

Thrash blurted, "Originally it was just Thrash. I added the 'claw' part for obvious reasons," glancing slightly toward her beast form's feet as the rested against her back.

Tali had lost sight of the black Raptoricon some time ago, "And Slice, did she change her name too?"

"She's had that name ever since I first teamed up with her. Her sharpshooting has gotten us out of a few tight situations. Probably saved my spark more times than I'd dare count. Don't mind her attitude. This is by far the longest we've ever been around organics, outside of mission stakeouts." Thrashclaw then surveyed the area, leaning as close as she could to Tali to whisper, "And she has a more sensitive side. She had Shred set up a special untraceable account so she can post her poetry on the forum Shred uses to monitor activity back at the capital. And don't spread that around. If she learned I said this to anyone she'll be really upset."

Tali started to wispier as well, "Don't worry. She won't hear a thing from me."

"Good, she has been undyingly loyal to me and all of my plans, no matter how half-baked they were or any protests she might vocalize at first."

Tali had seen that before, "Perhaps despite all of your flaws, she see something in you that she likes." Thashclaw liked that idea, though she wasn't too sure how true that might be. It'd be easier to ask, but for now, she had to wait and see how the Autobots and organics could change things. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what was your original plan when you attacked the Xantium?"

Thrashclaw looked around, "Well originally Shred, Slice, and Gnash were going to poke the outer defenses, draw everyone's attention so I could sneak inside and steal energon."

"And you'd be able to carry enough off the ship without being noticed?"

Thrash held out a few explosives. "After blowing out a wall and maybe finding a loader to drag more."

"You really didn't think this through…"

Thrashclaw couldn't look to her, "I'm sure it could have worked out. But if things work out as planned, this could be better."