"It was reported that one of your mechs is in a relationship with an Autobot."
Leecher looked up from their datapad at AA-00's comment. They sat across from each other at the table in a conference room on the Nemesis. They were the only two bots there. The comment came after a brief pause in their discussion of future plans.
"That is not going to be a problem, is it?" they asked.
"It will not," Leecher answered right away. "Our lady already took care of it. X-ray will be going with us to Cybertron since he is part of the engineering team. And Wheeljack will be going with Optimus to retrieve the Allspark after we leave."
"You told the Autobots about our deal, didn't you?"
"Of course."
"And?"
"And what? They have no choice but to agree to our terms since their only way to access Cybertron is via a spacecraft since they don't have access to a space bridge anymore. Speaking of… we need to dismantle yours so that we can move it to Cybertron."
AA-00's wings twitched in annoyance at the thought of having to organize yet another task. They really wanted to get away from this planet as soon as possible. "If we dismantle it, how will we be able to transport it to Cybertron?"
"With the CRC's space bridge. How do you think we started reviving Cybertron in the first place?"
"I was not aware you had one."
"We do. Though, it was most often used as a ground bridge for the larger bots."
"That is good to know. And I agree that it would be advantageous to us to move ours to Cybertron. I'll start assigning teams for that right away." They tapped on their datapad to set a reminder. "Now, about-"
"Hold that thought," Leecher suddenly interrupted, holding up a digit. "We're getting an emergency comm."
"Vehicon?" AA-00 asked, reaching for their commlink. If something was wrong, they should have also been contacted.
"No. Autobot." Leecher's mask suddenly split open and Liliy dropped onto the table.
"Not to worry, AA-00," she said. "I'll take care of it. You two can continue the discussion." And disappeared into a small ground bridge portal that opened at the end of the table.
"May I ask what happened?" AA-00 said after the portal closed.
"Do you have any recollection of the Autobot Rescue Forces that were around at the beginning of the war?"
"As I recall, they were always running into danger to save people and the Decepticons took advantage of that. Many fell to bombs and traps."
"Yes. And they were basically wiped out before Cybertron fell. All except one squad, it seems. An unfortunate series of events led to them spending most of the war in stasis, floating aimlessly in space until a Priority Prime message found them and they were led to this planet. They've been here, just over a year now. Optimus sent them to live with a human family on an isolated island to keep them away from the fighting."
"Even though the Autobots were always in need of extra help?"
"We haven't met them personally but Liliy says that the Rescue Bots are not suited for combat. Delta also reported that they were surprised when he used his blaster around them. Of course, there were also humans present at the time so that might have been a factor. Anyway, it seems they've gotten themselves into trouble yet again."
"If they're Autobots, shouldn't Prime be handling it?"
"If they can even get a hold of Prime. And actually, last time, when Delta had to help them, Prime was the problem. Speaking of which, we almost forgot. X-ray isn't the only one dating an Autobot. Delta has been seeing one of the Rescue Bots for a while now..."
"Is that relationship going to be a problem?" AA-00 asked when Leecher trailed off.
"Probably not? Delta is one of the ones staying here to look after the base so it should be fine."
"Hmph. If you say so. Back on topic. About how we were going to handle returning refugees…"
"Oh, right. We had some thoughts on that."
The two of them discussed some ideas but didn't reach a good solution before the end of the meeting. They decided to discuss it more next time, when Liliy was there to provide input.
I know what you're thinking: 'This is incredibly short, why the heck did it take you so long to write it?'
Well, I wanted to finish the Rescue Bots side chapter that goes along with this. Plus, I got distracted by a couple of other WIPs that I would like to start posting.
It should be the last side chapter, btw. Anymore Rescue Bot interaction will probably just end up in this fic.
Go read it if you want to know what happens.