The Nemesis still lay on the floor of Earth's Pacific Ocean, abandoned after Megatron had led his troops back to Cybertron for the last time. Over the years nature had slowly worked on reclaiming the warship, crusting it in a layer of barnacles and coral and swathing it in a forest of kelp. The Nemesis had been built to withstand the most brutal of attacks… but the elements worked a patient war of attrition, and if this planet managed to endure for a few million more years it might accomplish the task that so many Autobot forces had failed to achieve - destroying Megatron's personal warship.

For now, however, the ship was structurally sound despite its coating of organic life, and Glory judged it safe to bring Swift inside. She wanted to share some of her past with her daughter, and giving her a tour of the Decepticon base that had been her home for so long seemed a good way to do it. And Swift, once she'd gotten over her nervousness at the eerie emptiness of the ship, had been fascinated.

"Megatron sat here?" she asked as she peered into the empty office.

Glory nodded. "He did. He was a good leader - a little scary sometimes, but I looked up to him. I think, despite acting so tough and stern all the time, he would have liked you."

Swift stepped hesitantly into the room, looking about. Then she dashed toward the empty chair and climbed into it, giggling as she kicked her feet. "I'm sitting in his chair! I'm sitting where Megatron used to sit!"

Glory laughed. "Yes, you are!" She snapped a picture and waved her out. "I don't want to stay here too long - your daddy will worry about us - but I do want to show you one more place."

"Okay." She slid out of the chair and followed her mother out, giggling. "Wait until I tell Valiant about this. He'll be jealous."

Glory patted the sparkling's helm and led her deeper into the ship. The hallways were silent save the clunk of their footsteps and the click of Wildfire's hooves, but far more oppressive than the silence was the sense of emptiness that permeated the ship. It was as if the lack of anyone else save them aboard the Nemesis was a tangible thing, and their presence here had disturbed it.

Swift tugged lightly at her hand. "Did you see any fighting while you were here?"

Glory nodded. "Megatron had me watch fights from afar. He wanted me to be prepared for battle once I was upgraded and became a soldier."

"Was it scary?"

"It could be… but I had Wildfire to watch over me. And my uncle never let anything bad happen to me. He even faced down the Prime to protect me once."

Swift nodded. "I wish I could've met Uncle T. He sounds like the bestest uncle."

"He was to me," Glory murmured. "But I wouldn't tell Uncle Astro that, okay? He might get upset."

"He's funny when he gets mad," Swift giggled, but she didn't press the issue too much. "Where'd you sleep?"

"I'm just about to show you," she replied, and pulled something from subspace that she had somehow managed to hold onto all these years - a keycard. "This was our room."

It took a moment for the lock to register, systems that lain dormant for years taking their time grinding to life, but finally the door slid open. Glory felt her fans seize as they entered the room that had been home for her and Thundercracker, still so familiar after all this time. They had packed up all their belongings before the move, leaving behind only their sleeping berths and a desk. But if she stood in one place long enough her CPU began to fill in the blank areas, marking where Thundercracker's computer had sat, where her drawings had graced the walls, where her toys had been scattered throughout the room…

She shuttered her optics, blinking back cleanser. After all this time, she still missed him. He had been just as much a parent to her as Piston and Windblade, and she desperately wished he could see how far she had come… and could get to know his grand-niece.

Wildfire gave the room a thorough sniffing, his ears flicking as he picked up the ghosts of familiar scents. "Thundercracker was here."

Glory nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"Glory was here." He transformed to his robot mode, crouching to run his fingers over a series of scuffs in the floor. "Wildfire was here."

"Yes," Glory said softly. "You remember this place, Wildfire? You remember our old home?"

Wildfire's optics flickered as he processed that question. Then he stood and made his way to Swift's side, draping an arm over her shoulders.

"Home is Swift," he replied, his voice firm and stubborn as ever. "Home is Glory. Home is with you. Protect the family."

Her spark fluttered in its chamber, and she couldn't help but smile. Shockwave insisted Wildfire didn't have the intellectual capacity to process anything beyond the narrow scope of his programming, and for all she knew he really did consider "home" to be nothing more than his mission to protect Swift. But perhaps he was capable of more complex thought than anyone had guessed… and somehow, he'd managed to say something quite profound, whether he intended to or not.

"Yes… home is our family," Glory replied at last. "And we have a good one, even if some of its members are a little unusual." She patted the drone's helm, making him shake his head and grumble to himself. "Let's go back to the beach. Your daddy'll be wondering what kept us so long."

Swift scratched at Wildfire's helm, making him grumble contentedly. "Can we play with the dolphins again on our way back up?"

"If they're around. You can't control dolphins - they just show up whenever they feel like it. But we'll be here another week or so - there'll be plenty of opportunity to run into them again."

Swift beamed, and she hurried out of the room with Wildfire hot on her heels. Glory paused for one last look at the room that had been home for a time before following her out. She wasn't sure she'd be back anytime soon - nothing remained on the Nemesis but old memories. But she was glad she'd come here, and had a chance to share the experience with her daughter.

Glory had expected Updraft to answer the call - or failing that, one of her parents or siblings. Stardust's face wasn't the last one she'd expected to see on the screen, but it was certainly surprising enough to make her wonder if she'd punched in Soundwave's code by accident.

"Hi Swift's mom," he greeted, beaming.

"Hi, Stardust," she told the blue-and-silver sparkling. "Are you visiting Updraft today?"

He shook his head. "I live here now. Knock Out and Breakdown are gonna adopt me! Windjammer showed me the papers!"

Glory smiled, feeling the lingering worry at Stardust's fate finally fade away. He had been in good hands with Soundwave, but even she had worried that the cassette-carrier wouldn't be able to take on the care of a second sparkling and handle his duties as Communications Officer at the same time. To know Stardust was going to a stable home - and a family that had already raised three sparklings and proven themselves capable - was a relief.

"Is your sister there?" she asked. "Or did she step out for a bit?"

"She's talking to Uppercut about - uh-oh." The face vanished from the screen.

"Star, stay out of my things!" she heard Updraft shout, and the red Seeker's face came into view. "Who's this - Glory! I'm sorry about him. He's really come out of his shell since he started living here, and no one told us he had a nosy streak."

"It's perfectly fine," Glory assured her. "I'm just happy he's settling in well. He's really needed a good, stable family."

"Well, the dads are bound and determined to give him one," she replied, her faceplates relaxing as her irritation faded. "And should anything happen to them, Allspark forbid, there are three other adults here who could look after him. He's in good hands."

"Good… I'm so glad to hear that." She leaned back against the rocks that were serving as a makeshift chair, making herself comfortable before going on. "I just called to see how things were going back home."

"You've only been gone two decacycles," Updraft pointed out with a laugh. "It's not like we've had a revolution while you've been gone. Everything's pretty much normal here - some rebuilding and cleanup after the Quintesson battle, but other than that, nothing."

Glory felt a brief pang of guilt that she and Blitzwing weren't there to help with the rebuilding… but she pushed it aside. She was no longer Air Commander, not even truly enlisted anymore. She had given so much of her life to the Decepticon cause; she deserved a vacation, and to only worry about herself and her family instead of the entire planet.

A shriek of delight filled the air, and she glanced up from the handheld comm-screen to watch as Blitzwing swooped overhead in jet mode, Swift clinging to his back. He dipped low over the surf and let his wingtips skim the surface, drenching the sparkling in spray. She giggled in delight and urged him higher, and he obliged, pulling up in a steep climb.

Careful, she commed him. If she falls off, I don't think the water's deep enough to save her from damage!

C'mon, I would never drop her! Blitzwing insisted. Besides, she likes it. We got us a natural flyer here. Hope she picks a jet mode when she upgrades.

That's entirely up to her. But yes… I'm glad to see she loves to fly. Just don't get too crazy. And if you DO drop her, you'd better catch her.

Fine, be the boring parent, he teased, and banked for another low pass over the water.

"Everything all right there?"

"Sorry." Glory returned her attention to the call. "Just making sure the sparklings play nice."

Updraft smirked. "Sounds like you guys are enjoying yourselves. Take as long as you need, all right? I want you well-rested by the time you get back."

"Yes, Creator," Glory replied with a chuckle. "How are things with the fliers? Are they treating you all right?"

Updraft shrugged. "Nothing I can't handle. I still get some weird looks and nasty comments, but at least Stormrunner's got my back now instead of treating me like a Starscream clone. I don't think they'll be clamoring for me to be Air Commander anytime soon, but at least they're accepting me."

Glory sighed in relief. She had worried that Updraft's past would subject her to bad treatment - and when she had learned Shockwave had appointed Stormrunner to be his new Air Commander, that worry had only escalated. To hear that the black Seeker had dropped her grudge against Updraft and gone from accuser to protector was gratifying to hear.

"What about… the leader of the Knights?" Glory asked. "Have you heard what's being done with him?"

"You can say his name, you know," Updraft pointed out. "Springer's going to trial in a quartrex. It'll be the first joint Autobot/Decepticon trial since Galvatron's, and there's a lot of fuss being made over it. Apparently he's pleading not guilty, and insisting he was doing it for the good of Cybertron." She rolled her optics. "Fanatics."

"Fanatics can still be very dangerous," Glory reminded her. "Cyclonus was a fanatic, and he nearly destroyed us before he died. I just hope Springer's properly brought to justice… and that the Autobots don't let him off lightly for being one of theirs."

"Oh, don't worry about THAT," Updraft replied. "The Autobots are irate. Not just the Council or the Prime either - apparently that one pink femme stopped by the correctional facility and beat the living slag out of him. The guards had to drag her out of the visiting area before she did serious damage."

Glory burst out laughing. She had always assumed Arcee was a weak pushover, seeing as she was almost never on the front lines of the fighting. Hearing she not only had actual spine but could hold her own against a larger mech greatly improved her view of her.

"Hey Glory... given any more thought to what you're going to do when you get home? Or have you been too busy relaxing to think about it?"

"Oh, I've thought about it plenty," Glory replied. "And I think I'd like to enroll in the university at Kaon. I can work classes around taking care of my daughter fairly easily, and honestly I think it's about time I furthered my education."

"Good for you! Any thought on what you want to study?"

"If I tell you, you're going to laugh at me."

"Try me."

Glory braced herself for the inevitable. "I'd like to study art. Techniques, history, real-world application, that sort of thing."

Updraft's opticks flickered in a hard reboot. "You're kidding. I never took you as an artist."

"Oh, I used to love to draw and paint all the time as a sparkling," Glory replied. "A lot of that was graffiti and pranks, but I really enjoyed just painting pictures as well. Might as well study something I enjoy, and see if I'm actually any good at it in the process."

Updraft smiled. "That's actually a really good idea. I'm happy for you, Glory. You're finally living your own life, and I'm proud of you for it."

Another whoop sounded, and Blitzwing soared overhead, close enough to make the trees near the coastline whip back and forth from the wake of his passage.

"I should go," Glory told Updraft. "Before those two start trying to buzz a human town for giggles. You take care of yourself."

"I will, and you as well." Updraft winked and cut the call.

Glory went to stow the screen, but a notification in the corner of said screen made her pause. A message had reached her during her conversation with Updraft… a message from Scourge. She quickly opened it and scanned the contents.

Made it back to Beta Geode safely. Feel free to contact me anytime. Might visit someday, not sure when. Thank you for your help.

"No… thank you," she murmured, making a note to reply to the message tonight before tucking the screen away. Perhaps it had been foolish of her to abandon everything to hunt the Sweep down and try to learn more about what had happened to her uncle. But it had brought her some closure, and helped Scourge solve a long-burning mystery of his own. In light of that, she couldn't exactly bring herself to regret her misadventure.

Blitzwing finally touched down, blowing sand in all directions as he settled to the beach. Swift scrambled off his back and rushed towards Glory, and she stood and scooped the sparkling up in her arms.

"Did you have a good time?" she asked.

"It was amazing!" Swift gushed. "Can we do it again?"

Glory laughed. "We can't spend all our vacation flying, little one. But if you give Daddy a moment to rest, I'm sure he'd be happy to take you again."

Blitzwing transformed and lay in the sand, venting and groaning. "Might be awhile… whoo… haven't done extended flyin' like that since the war ended."

"Hopefully you can rebuild your stamina before you return to the ranks," Glory told him. "I don't think the new Air Commander's going to take it easy on you just because you took a leave of absence."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Blitzwing raised his head to regard them. "Hope we don't have plans for the rest of the day, 'cause I'm just gonna lay here and grump a bit."

"In that case, I'll let you rest and take Swift further down the coast," Glory replied. "I wanted to show Swift the whales."

"Whales?" Swift repeated. "Like in the movie with the silly fish?"

"Yes, but I don't think you'll be able to communicate with them like Dory could."

"Are they really as huge as in the movie?"

"Well, we're a lot bigger than fish, but they're still very big animals. Bigger than Dinobots, even."

"Wow… that's really big. Will they eat us?"

Glory laughed. "No, sweetie. We'll be safe." She set Swift down and transformed to her jet mode, and let the sparkling climb onto her back. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Blitzwing, we'll be back soon! Don't go anywhere!"

"Not plannin' on it," he groaned. "Have fun, you two."

She gunned her thrusters and went airborne, taking it slow enough to not risk throwing Swift off. It felt good to finally be part of a normal family unit, and to be on her way towards living a normal, peaceful life. And if the chaotic path her life had taken to reach this point had taught her anything, it was to make the most of this chance at normalcy, however long it lasted.

Author's Note

This story almost never got written. I had intended Glory and Honor to be the final installment of Glory's story, or at least the final multi-chapter installment - I like my Decepticon OC too much to abandon her entirely, and planned on at least a few one-shots to continue her tale.

Interestingly, despite this decision, I originally ended Glory and Honor on a massive sequel hook, in which she would visit Galvatron in prison and learn the truth about what happened to Thundercracker (or at least his body) after the Battle of Autobot City. I ended up scrapping this ending and replacing it with a neater, more complete ending, though the original chapter ended up being posted on my Deviantart page. (Said "deleted scene" ended up being loosely adapted into this fic, in the chapter where Glory confronts Galvatron in prison.)

Writing a third Glory story was always an interesting idea, but got buried under other projects until it looked like it might never come to pass. But then a friend wrote a very lovely fanfic of my own Glory fanfics (Soar Onward, which can be found on Archive Of Our Own), and that rekindled my interest in my OC… and inspired me to go forth with The Power and the Glory.

This fic was NOT intended to make any sort of political statement… but real-life events have a way of trickling into fiction anyhow. The inter-faction prejudice present in The Power and the Glory, and the Knights of Cybertron and their terrible agenda, weren't supposed to be my attempts to symbolize the racism and hatred currently raging in my home country, but it's entirely possible I unconsciously let my feelings on the matter leak into this fic. Any statement this fic may make on those matters is accidental, even if it's timely and necessary.

Updraft and her siblings, Uppercut and Windjammer, are not my creations - they belong to ParadiseParrot, the author of Soar Onward and the beta-reader of The Power and the Glory. Thank you for letting me play with your OCs, Paradise, and hopefully I didn't torture them too much in this story.

This may be the final story centered on Glory herself… but it's not the last story set in this universe. Glory's journey may be over, but I'm planning on exploring the path of another character in this universe - Swift. Stay tuned for Swift Flight, a story about Glory's daughter and her coming of age on a post-war Cybertron.

Thank you for reading!