Disclaimer: I do not have any claim to the Transformers franchise compared to Hasbro as well as those they entrusted to adapt it from comic books to cartoon shows and anything in-between.

[MO]

Major of the Orion

[MO]

Hanging out with the Autobots at their base was always a blast for young Sari Sumdac. Unfortunately, as soon as Bumblebee brought her over, he, Bulkhead, and Prowl were called away to deal with Detroit's resident Angry Archer, while Optimus Prime and Ratchet were already at their spaceship at the bottom of Lake Erie to look over their downed vehicle. Not exactly the hangout Sari had in mind, but at least there was one Autobot left for a girl's day in doors.

Propped on the giant computer console where the team's sole female in every sense of the world was looking up things Sari admittedly had no idea of, she turned to the closest person she had for a friend that was a fellow girl and asked, "What are you working on, Elita?"

Without turning to Sari's direction, the blue and yellow Autobot answered, "After those attacks by Lockdown and the Cons, I figured it would be a good idea to setup an orbital perimeter alarm. Thankfully, your father was happy to loan some satellites to make it a reality, so we should be in the clear the next time any off-worlder, Cybertronian or otherwise, comes to Earth for a friendly visit at best, and an outright invasion at worst."

Her interest piqued by Elita's words about off-worlders, Sari then asked, "Wait, there are other aliens out there other than Autobots and Decepticons?"

Turning to make eye contact, Elita showed a genuine smile at the redhead's curiosity before saying, "Well, the galaxy is a big place in an even bigger universe, Sari. There's bound to be more forms of life than just Cybertronians and Humans. Some are mechanical in nature like me, many are as organic as you, and a few are said to either be in-between or neither."

"Neither," Sari wondered with a confused look.

Elita chuckled before changing the screen on her computer to show an image of the Milky Way Galaxy itself with six highlighted areas. "Aside from our own Commonwealth that governs Cybertron and many other Autobot colonies as well as that rump state of a Decepticon Empire," Elita began and smiled at Sari's laughter at her choice of words for the Decepticons' current state of being, "there are at least four other major powers in our galaxy, but due to Autobot protocol boundaries, we haven't made much major contact with them in a long time at least, or ever at most. The Vestial Imperium's inhabitants are mechanoids that have expanded themselves on many planets, but never took sides in the Great War, while the organic species allied under the Nebulon Republic are supposedly friendly, even though most Autobots would prefer to ignore organics entirely than acquaint themselves with them."

"And the other space governments," Sari asked eagerly, finding Elita's lessons about alien species to be more fascinating than what her Tutor Bot was teaching her back at home.

"I can tell you what they're called, but their true nature is kind of a blank to me," Elita admitted before continuing, "The Vok are said to be beings made up of pure energy, and they mostly seclude themselves in their Territory undergoing odd experiments. The last galactic power I know of is the Quintesson Pan Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere."

"Well, that last name is kind of a mouthful," Sari commented.

Amused, Elita replied, "No argument there, but I suppose when you want to make your supposedly biomechanical race look like the masters of commerce and subterfuge they are said to be, you got to do what you got to do." Taking a sterner look, however, she then added, "But in all seriousness, Sari, you should be mindful if and when dealing with any of these creatures. You never know when something bad will happen."

Hearing the edge in Elita's voice, Sari could not help but ask, "Did you have a bad experience with any of these aliens?"

Seeing the Autobot grip her hands into fists made Sari immediately regret her question, but the former ultimately sighed before turning to Sari with a sad look. "The arachnids of Archa Seven."

Looking confused at Elita's words, Sari then remembered Optimus's experience at Halloween before saying, "Arachnids? As in spiders?"

"Giant ones that can be as much of a threat to even Autobots," Elita took Sari into her arms, and they then sat on the makeshift couch nearby as the former continued her story. "At the time, I was simply called Elita-1 rather than Elita Major and Optimus was just Optimus. We were both in the Academy when our friend, Sentinel, learned of the rumors of a Decepticon ship that crash landed on Archa Seven back in the Great War with a stockpile of Energon that could set the three of us up for life. I couldn't resist being pulled into Sentinel's scheme and Optimus came along to keep an optic on the both of us, but none of us ever expected that the locals would be dangerous."

"But the three of you got back to Cybertron still intact, right," Sari asked to confirm, even though she had a suspicion that things did not turn out so well.

Elita was downcast before answering, "Optimus and I were fortunate to escape with our lives, Sentinel wasn't."

"Sorry," Sari replied meaningfully, especially since she realized the root of Optimus's arachnophobia. "What was Sentinel like?"

At that, Elita could not resist a half smile. "Sentinel, truth be told, had an ego the size of Cybertron itself. If he might it back safe, he probably wouldn't be the type of Bot to get along with for either his comrades, or organics. Still, I like to think deep down, he still would've wanted to do us all proud, so who's to say how he would've ended up?" After a moment of silence, Elita then added, "All the same, Optimus took it harder than even me, and wanted to take responsibility for the both of us, even if it was Sentinel's idea in the first place, just so Sentinel's memory wouldn't be diminished."

"And that led you guy being sentenced to repair work," Sari asked.

"Let's just say that after our court martial, where I was honest from the start, Optimus and I kind of drifted a bit in the Academy as well as in our careers, mostly apart. He put some bots like Bumblebee and Bulkhead in boot camp training for a time, and I stuck to learning more science until Ultra Magnus reunited us on the Orion, and I think you know the rest."

Feeling uncomfortable, Sari nonetheless, said, "I hate to ask this, Elita, but are you and Optimus kind of estranged right now?"

Surprised by the question, Elita responded, "What? No. I mean, sure there's always been some awkwardness here and there, but there aren't enough words for me to say how much Optimus means to me. And I can tell that I'm nowhere near his least favorite persons list." Seeing the wide, if goofy, smile on Sari's face, she then asked, "Why are you smiling like that?"

Giggling, Sari said, "Sorry, Elita, I'm just glad that you two haven't lost sight of each other. You're both so cute together!"

Turning away with a small smile of her own, Elita replied, "Yeah, I guess we are."

[MO]

I had half a mind to make this idea into a full story in the Transformers Animated continuity, but I have too many things to do as is, so I decided to leave it as a one-shot for the sake of argument. I hope I did good with my first Transformers writing, though.