An unidentified shuttle landed not far from the Ark bringing it into an instant state of alarm. The Autobots rushed out weapons drawn only to discover that other Autobots had arrived.

"Chromia, Elita, Flareup, Arcee, Ultra Magnus, Hot Rod, Warpath and Seaspray, welcome to Earth," said Optimus.

Chromia's hug nearly bowled Ironhide over when she saw him. Elita embraced Optimus and the other mechs happily greeted their long lost comrades.

"First, the med bay," said Optimus observing their battered forms and then we'll debrief you."

"Incoming shuttle," yelled Red Alert over the general comm.

"Was there anyone else with you?" asked Optimus stepping in front of Elita protectively.

"No, it was just the eight of us," she replied.

As the second shuttle headed in, it passed over the first skidding into the desert scattering rocks in its haphazard landing. It finally came to a stop and the hatch opened to reveal a figure all in black with the Decepticon symbol on its chest. Every Autobot had their weapon pointed at the Decepticon and the figure raised its empty hands saying it was unarmed.

"That's the femme that helped us escape," said Elita speaking up.

Suddenly the black paint shimmered turning a blue green and an Autobot symbol reappeared over the Decepticon mark. "Sorry, forgot to turn that back," said Rain not moving. "I'm back and I brought you a souvenir." Several femmes immediately flocked over to her excitedly while the other bots looked on confused.

"She's with the Autobots?" Ultra Magnus asked Optimus.

"There is much to tell, soldier," said Optimus.

xxxxx

The newly arrived Autobots and Rain were treated in the med bay.

"How did this happen?" asked Ratchet removing the pipe from Rain's chassis.

"Mixmaster decided to pin femmes like humans pin butterflies in a collection," she said.

"You're lucky that he didn't hit your spark," he said tapping his wrench threateningly by her head.

"Luck had nothing to do with it," said Rain. "I couldn't get out of his grip, but I could shift enough to throw his aim off."

"How did you end up with the Decepticons?" asked Ratchet curiously.

"Sorry, I can't say until I talk to Jazz or Optimus," she said.

xxxxx

As soon as Ratchet had finished her repairs, Rain met Jazz in his office. She handed him all the data she'd collected from the two Decepticon ships and told him what had happened. By the end of her story, Jazz was irate. Gone was his easygoing tone and he glared at her angrily. Despite what she had done that had benefited their side, he was furious at her for taking unilateral movement. While she told him that she completely understood his reaction, she pointed out that he'd never have let her go otherwise. Prowl arrived soon after and escorted her to the brig.

Justice asked Optimus to be included in the briefing saying that she might have insight into Rain's actions considering they were roommates and he agreed. All the officers as well as the new arrivals were included in the briefing. Ratchet started off by listing the conditions of the two new mechs that weren't included. Warpath and Hot Rod would need additional time to heal. Then Ultra Magnus and Elita explained how their two small bands of fighters had encountered each other on a planet that was calling for aid. While they sorted the Decepticon problem there, their shuttle was captured as they travelled back to Cybertron.

Justice then added that the situation with the Decepticon mini-cassettes had been an infiltration setup that Rain had orchestrated from the beginning. "It was the only reason we let Laserbeak live," said Justice. "The Decepticons are similar to this world's underground and I had no interest in returning to the dark so I gave Rain every unsavory contact I had stored in my memory in order to find information on the Cons. Rain also told me that she'd gladly walk in the darkness to get what she wanted."

Jazz continued from there spinning the tale that Rain had told him. "She brought back information she downloaded from both the Nemesis and the Devastation," he said. "We're analyzing the data now, but based on this information, we can map where the Cons have been and what they might be planning. The Nemesis is repairing but still operational while the Devastation and the Cons on it were destroyed."

"How did she manage that?" asked Ironhide in disbelief.

"She disabled the controls, took out the engine and crashed it into planet Venus," said Jazz. "She also claims to have offlined Scalpel when he tried to erase her memory files."

"I have to commend her on that action," said Prowl. "Scalpel was known for unlawful experiments on his own kind."

"Despite this, she left without permission and is currently in the brig for insubordination," said Jazz.

"Isn't that a little harsh," said Chromia. "Considering the results she achieved. The eight of us might have been offlined had she not helped us escape."

"She's barely two months old," said Jazz. "She was sparked here on Earth along with five other femmes. Someone that young and inexperienced should never have been allowed to infiltrate the Decepticons. Had she revealed her plan, I or another on my team could have infiltrated the Cons."

Justice chuckled at that and the others turned to look at her. "Apologies, but the setup she planned wouldn't have worked for anyone but her. Also, ever since we were sparked, we've done nothing but train and learn to fight so I hardly think we're unqualified," she said leaning back in her chair. "Minus Dawn and Night whom only have memories of civilians. Rain, Echo, Mist and myself have memories from soldiers. Those soldiers were also members of the CT military branch which I doubt you know exists."

"What is CT?" asked Optimus.

"It stands for Cybertronian Taskforce," she said. "Ironhide saw how well we worked together as a team during the last battle. No matter our function in the military we were trained to take down Cybertronians and I mean Cybertronians, not just Decepticons, but all of our kind. Shooting at the weak spot together to penetrate and scattering to avoid return fire only to repeat. That is only one of CT's training strategies."

There was a stunned silence at the table.

"Why did you never mention this before?" asked Prowl.

"You have a predisposition to see humans as good and it was unlikely you'd believe our words without proof," she said. "Don't get me wrong. There are humans on this Earth as good as angels, but that also means there are humans just as bad. I have many memories of the worst kind of humans and the corruption they cause. My specific human joined the military as a translator to escape that world. With her memories I could have walked straight onto a Decepticon ship and never looked back, but I chose not to. Echo and Mist don't have that type of background and they were simply trained as soldiers in CT. Rain on the other hand was in intelligence and thrived in a world almost as dark as my own. The only ones involved in this situation even slightly are the four of us."

"If those human memories are what caused the situation," said Ultra Magnus. "Shouldn't the memory files be deleted?"

Justice stiffened noticeably while Optimus looked thoughtful.

"You will not be touching my sparkmate," said Prowl in a threatening voice.

Ultra Magnus put his hands up in a placating gesture. "I was simply suggesting a logical solution."

"Mist helped Rain get the supplies she needed," said Justice. "Echo created the computer virus that allowed Rain to hack into the Decepticon's database. I gave her my underworld contacts. Night and Dawn weren't involved at all. None of us has ever been hostile to any of the Autobots. The human memories are simply the basis that we built our current beings from. Based on these facts if you still wish to erase all our memories, then you are no better than Megatron and Scalpel." Justice stood abruptly. "Optimus Prime, I demand that you make your decision now or I will take the femmes and leave immediately."

"I agree that retaining your memories won't be an issue for the majority of you," said Optimus. "Rain might benefit though."

"Too bad," said Justice tossing a data pad on the table. "She's already gone and she left you a message."

A picture of Rain came on the screen. "Greetings, you're only seeing this if you've made the decision which I fully expected you to make and that has forced me to leave. I'll be blunt. With the attack on Azure Military Base, the humans have increased the progression of the CT program. I can confirm with my contacts that new weapons effective against Autobots are currently being built and training will be spreading to other military bases. They will seek to destroy you and your only hope is repairing the Ark. I left the account number I was using to order supplies embedded in Justice's human memories. You destroy them; you destroy your only chance of getting supplies government free. As for the Cons, when I spoke with Megatron I warned him of this same thing and he has stepped up the repairs on his ship. With both of you gone, the Cybertronian and human massacre that would ultimately result won't happen. I also reduced the current Decepticon threat around Earth by half. You're welcome for that. While I got a big boost in learning to be a saboteur from Audrey's memories, the one and only reason I did what I did was to protect the Autobot mech with whom I had a spark call. I will continue to side with the Autobots from the shadows, but I will no longer carry any affiliation. So I'll see you around, but you won't see me."

Prowl confirmed a moment later that she had escaped from the brig and that there was no trace of her on the Ark. A severely disheartened Optimus adjourned the meeting and left with his sparkmate.

Jazz stopped Justice as she was leaving. "For what it's worth," he said. "I'm sorry. I didn't intend for this to happen."

Justice just nodded her head and left.

xxxxx

Prowl returned to his room to find the lights off, but his door wings located Mist sitting on the far corner of the berth. He could tell through the bond that she was agitated.

"Are you angry?" asked Mist quietly.

"I am not," replied Prowl evenly. "Why did you not tell me of CT?"

"The four of us all had contacts on the inside," she replied. "We were taking care of it ourselves. We did not wish to burden you further."

"It is not a threat right now, but will undoubtedly become one in time," said Prowl.

"We have already made movements to rectify the situation and now with Rain free and clear to move as she wants, there will be limited problems from that corner," reassured Mist.

"Will you tell me your plans?" asked Prowl. "I will keep it in strictest confidence."

"What I know is limited, but I'll tell you whatever you want to know. It was Rain that made most of the moves and I wasn't privy to everything," she replied.

Prowl sat down on the berth next to her.

"I want to thank you for defending me when they wanted to erase my memories," she said softly. "Justice told me that you were the only one who stood up for us. I wouldn't be who I am right now without them. Starting from scratch terrifies me, but not so much as losing you because of it."

"No matter what happens I will not leave you," said Prowl taking her hand in his. He moved closer bringing her against him delicately. He exercised more care in how gently he held her than ever before. It was obvious that she was feeling uncertain and insecure about what was going to happen to her and the others.

xxxxx

Wheeljack had caught onto the current situation when he stopped in the rec room and caught sight of the new faces. The mechs in the rec room were only too willing to fill him in on the details. After hearing the story, which got more exaggerated as the mechs got overcharged, he headed back to his berth room. Well it wasn't just his berth room anymore. Dawn looked up from her data pad as he entered and flashed him a small smile. As he put the equipment he had with him away, he could tell how subdued she was even with her blocking her side of the bond.

"Dawn," he said softly.

"Hmm," she replied.

"Are you all right?" he asked walking over to her.

"Would you have let them take away my memories?" asked Dawn looking at him seriously.

"If it was something that was absolutely necessary and would keep you from harm," said Wheeljack. "Then yes I would let them delete those memory files."

Dawn looked at him in surprise shock leaking through the bond.

"I will not allow anyone to take you away from me," he said looming above her. "Not even memories. There is nothing in this universe that is worth more to me than you. Memories can be remade as long as you are with me."

Her initial shock through the bond quickly turned to understanding and then embarrassment. "I'm sorry for asking such a question," she said pulling him down on the berth next to her. "I'm slightly angry that the others didn't involve me, but the possible repercussions of their actions scared me very much. I don't know what I'd do if I was forced to leave the Ark like Rain was."

Wheeljack could still feel her insecurity over the bond and decided that tonight was not a night to be slow and gentle for he needed to quickly make her feel overcome by his presence until the only thought in her processors was his name.

xxxxx

Jazz caught up with Echo and asked to speak with her in his office. He sat behind his desk while Echo stood before it.

"I take it this isn't a social call," said Echo dryly.

"I wanted to ask about the virus you made," said Jazz.

"Which one? The one Rain used to hack the Con's mainframe or the half a dozen that I created in my free time and gave to Blaster?" asked Echo. "Though I'm not sure he even looked at them yet. We've been busy in communications."

"Why didn't you bring their existence to our attention?" asked Jazz.

"I just told you I gave it to my boss," protested Echo. "I followed the chain of command. Him overlooking them isn't my fault. It's your perception of us at fault."

"What do you mean?" asked Jazz in confusion.

"When the majority of the mechs look at us, they see new bots with little experience," said Echo. "This causes our skills to get overlooked and then we have the tedious task of trying to prove ourselves without some overprotective mech getting in the way. In our group, however, what we see when we look at each other are trained soldiers. We each have our own developed talents already even the former civilians. We have a command structure all our own and we follow it. It's you that has underestimated us from the beginning."

"We would've listened if you had only told us," protested Jazz.

"That's highly unlikely. When Rain's initial warnings failed to get taken seriously, we knew there wasn't any point in trying," said Echo pulling out a data pad and placing it on his desk. "This is an additional copy of the virus group I created. Feel free to use them."

Jazz took the data pad and started looking through it. Echo headed to the door, but paused and looked back. "Without my memories, those viruses would have never been created this quickly. Justice told me that Prowl was the only one who protested the memory erasure on our behalf. It's a pity because I thought that I had made a few friends here that might try to understand me, but I can plainly see that's not the case and that I'm just seen as another pretty frame," she said bitterly walking out the door.

The door slid shut and Jazz punched his desk as he realized that all the effort he had put into trying to get to know Echo had just been vaporized.

xxxxx

Justice was headed to her room when she bumped into Smokescreen or at least she figured that was how it was supposed to appear. He had probably been waiting for her. "Come along," she said gesturing down the hallway. She opened the door to her room letting him inside and following him in. "Take a seat," she said gesturing to Rain's empty half of the room. She pulled out two cubes of what was obviously high grade and passed him one. "So what would you like to know?"

"Direct as usual," said Smokescreen taking a sip of his cube. "Whoa, this is strong. Where did you get this?" he asked.

"A friend of mine got it from a mech, but she's not a big drinker so she gave it to me," she replied glancing at the cube. "I don't drink much either, but today it's warranted."

"Are you upset?" asked Smokescreen gently.

"No, in actuality, I knew this would happen. Rain and I predicted it after she made her decision to try the infiltration. It is somewhat disappointing that it didn't turn out different, but it was still within our expectations. There's no reason to get mad over plans going the way you predicted," she said smiling.

"You foresaw this and yet you went ahead despite telling people that you didn't want to get involved," said Smokescreen. "That was very crafty of the two of you and Rain even left you her account number as a security measure in order to protect your memories. It was a well thought out plan."

Justice broke out in genuine laughter and Smokescreen looked at her quizzically. There was still 3/4ths of the energon left in her cube.

"Did the high grade affect you already?" he asked.

"She lied," said Justice hitting the play button on a video on her data pad and taking a seat next to him. Once Rain's message had finished, she looked at him like she was studying him. "That was the message she left," she finally said. "What did you hear? Analyze it."

"She's blatantly using fear to try and coerce us into leaving this planet as soon as we can," said Smokescreen. "She admits to fear mongering with the Decepticons as well. We already have some agreements with the government to fight against the Decepticons in a joint effort so convincing us otherwise needed a basis. This is where she inserted CT into it trying to give us a threat to back it up. Her main message is action now talk later. Now that she's stuck on the outside, she still wants to appear noble or maybe sentimental which is why she brought up her spark call. That way she can blame her actions on her youth and emotions. Whatever agenda she has, it obviously can be advanced without her being here and with little of our influence."

"That's a little dry, but an excellent analysis," said Justice smirking. She handed him another cube of high grade.

"But you know something I don't," he said. "And you think that's why I'm here and not because I'm concerned for your welfare."

"I don't know why you would be," said Justice. "Beyond my fellow femmes with sparkmates, we're simply another bot in this war. Most of you are hardened to losing others and we haven't been here long enough to form any meaningful relationships."

Smokescreen frowned at her reasoning.

"It's okay," said Justice trying to reassure him. "Mist and Dawn were fortunate and the rest of us have already accepted this reality. Rain was particularly aware of this as she had a tail on her from the very beginning. She knew that no one trusted her and her being on her own out there is no different from her being on her own in here."

"I'm sorry that you feel that way," said Smokescreen genuinely. "We seem to have failed to realize the affect we were having on Rain as well. Are you willing to tell me what you know?"

"Sure," said Justice shifting to lean against the wall. "When you arrived at Azure, the base looked deserted. That was because the base was evacuated when they heard you were coming. The humans may have agreements with you, but they always plan for the worst case scenario such as Optimus turning on them when Megatron has been defeated."

"That would never happen," said Smokescreen adamantly.

"They don't know that," she replied. "Cybertronians are so similar to humans and they are so different. Some humans can't see past those differences. How many humans have the mechs gotten to know as well as Sam and Carly?"

Smokescreen remained silent realizing that there weren't many.

"The CT is a real program and many of the soldiers that were evacuated are in it," she said. "Prototypes of weapons that can harm Cybertronians already exist. While she was melodramatic in her explanation, Rain wanted to hammer home that this could become a problem. Rain isn't fond of humans, but she's giving them a chance by alerting you to the problem that exists. The way Optimus decides to deal with it will determine the future of our interactions with Earth."

"Why include the Decepticons?" asked Smokescreen.

"That information was a bargaining chip for getting her inside so she could get information," said Justice handing him another cube. "The other purpose it serves is to take our war away from Earth as soon as possible. Earth will be more receptive to us if we're not leaving a trail of human corpses everywhere and Earth is important to some of the femmes."

"Is Rain included?" asked Smokescreen leaning on his elbow.

"Rain wants to leave not stay. She's doing this for the others," said Justice. "She's much nicer than she lets on. She added the spark call comment as a way to apologize to the mech for leaving because she doesn't believe she'll survive what's going to happen next. I don't know who the mech is so don't bother asking. She doesn't tell me everything."

"You said she lied earlier," said Smokescreen tossing back the rest of his cube.

"I don't have the account number, but I have a way to contact her," she said smiling. "And about my human memories, except for the sense of redemption I get from doing the right thing and a few training techniques, I deleted nearly all of the memories that related to Paris' personal life after I let Rain have my contacts."

Smokescreen was completely flabbergasted by her admission. "When was this?" he demanded gripping her shoulders.

"Not even a week after I was sparked," she admitted. "All of the femmes deleted all but the relevant memories from their files. Rain has the only remnants of mine."

"So there never was a threat from you femmes," said Smokescreen whistling. "She knew that, but used it as a weapon regardless. It was all a part of her plan. How clever."

"Erasing the remainder of my memories now wouldn't change me much," said Justice smirking. "I'm sure my processor is already set in its ways."

"Would you be willing to have Ratchet verify that your memories are gone?" asked Smokescreen.

"Of course," said Justice smugly. "I wouldn't want to be seen as uncooperative." She stood up to move, but she wobbled and started to topple over.

Smokescreen caught her and drew her onto the berth with him. "I think you've had enough high grade for tonight," he said holding her. "We'll see Ratchet in the morning when all this is out of your system. I don't want either of us getting in trouble for it."

"Well since you seem to have free time," said Justice leaning against his chassis. "Let's talk about you."

xxxxx

Echo and Night were in their room discussing what had happened. Neither had known what Rain was planning.

"I should have known something was up when she asked for the virus," said Echo. "I was just so happy that someone wanted my work."

"I feel somewhat responsible for not looking after Justice and Rain more closely," said Night. "Maybe I could have stopped her."

"It's not your responsibility to look after anyone else but yourself," said Echo. "Rain is a rich spoiled princess that does whatever she wants. There's no way you could have stopped her and we are simply lucky she didn't take the rest of us down with her."

"You're just sore over what happened with Jazz," said Night rolling her optics behind her visor.

"I really am, but I know that it was my own fault," Echo replied. "I pretended to be demure because I wanted him to notice me and get to know me, but instead I was mostly surrounded by obnoxious mechs with overflowing egos and boring stories. Going forward I won't be so quiet anymore."

"It's never a good idea to hide your personality," said Night.

"It worked for Mist," pointed out Echo.

"Only if she was aiming for the twins, which she wasn't, but luckily Prowl saw through it," said Night. "That mech is incredibly sharp."

"Do you think I still have any chance with Jazz now?" asked Echo. "Maybe I should move on."

"Don't make any decisions right now," encouraged Night. "Forgive the mech for failing to live up to your expectations because that was all it was and take it one day at a time. There is always that last ray of hope."

"You're right," said Echo determinedly. "I'll do that and I think it's time for a change."