Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.

Authoress: *smiles* Tension in spades in this chapter. *evil laugh*

Megatron: *frowns* I don't like the sound of that human.

Starscream: *optics narrowed* Nothing with the Authoress comes to good Lord Megatron.

Authoress: *frown* I resent that!

Shockwave: Yet it is true.

Authoress: *pouts*

Chapter 31: Clash of Strategists

Vox's 1st P.O.V.

I worked next to Soundwave, organizing the information that Shockwave and Pandimala had been retrieving from both the Iaconian and Praxian databases. Ever since Lizzie had turned into Pandimala, she and Shockwave had been using the decoding process of the databases to help expedite Pandimala's training with her chassis and how to use her systems to access other systems. That practice, in turn, had afforded us a large amount of decoded information that Soundwave and I were now sorting into their respected states of urgency to recover. Items from the databases that needed to be retrieved as soon as possible were placed in a folder that was linked directly to Lord Megatron for him to set up missions for. The others were then denoted below that from there.

One thing that had not changed since Lizzie had turned into Pandimala was her fragging drive to keep improving. This was simultaneously one of Pandimala's best qualities and one of her worst ones. Pandimala's problem, as it has been since I had first started to get to know her, was that she pushed herself. She pushed and pushed until she taxed herself.

Originally, the rest of us Decepticons had agreed that, given her new form, that it would take Pandimala about eighty solars to become fully accustomed to her chassis. And that was Starscream being the most hopeful about her chances.

Now, with the progression that she was showing, those eighty solars were too long of a prediction. Now, Soundwave and I were thinking that the femme would be accustomed to our way of existing in maybe twenty-one solars. But, with her obsession with improving, who knew how long that number would be accurate.

"Vox, your attention is bouncing around." Soundwave's clips snapped me out of my thoughts. "Your files are hitting like a hurricane." And he motioned to the screen in front of me.

Sure enough, the files I was organizing on the two relics in front of me were placed in the same folder, when neither of them was supposed to be there. "Sorry, Soundwave. Got distracted."

"Pandimala." He spoke to me this time.

Of course, he was right. How could I not be thinking about her? Everywhere I went on the ship, I heard talk about Pandimala. That was especially from the drones. They all raved about her and worried about her condition in the same outtake.

Of course, I felt the same to a lesser extent. Pandimala was a strategist, and she worked closely with me on many different occasions as Lizzie. Even as Pandimala she had worked alongside me.

Then, as both Lizzie and Pandimala, I counted her as a friend. I didn't have a lot of those now, but she was a human that I could trust and I knew that same trust would be easy to give to her as a cybertronian. Over these past few solars, I saw that even though she was a triple changer, that Pandimala wasn't going to change who she was.

"Well yeah. I'm worried about the femme. She's pushing herself too hard lately and I'm worried what the news that she is a triple change will have on that going forward." I answered Soundwave.

Early the other solar, when Pandimala was getting her lesson from Shockwave, Lord Megatron allowed Knockout to release the information that he found out in his scans to everyone, including Pandimala. He had found that she had dormant wings, meaning that she was a triple changer.

"She knows the way. We can help when needed." Was Soundwave's response.

And I knew that he was right. She had been dealing with her transformation well and, if she did push herself too hard, the femme would listen to us. That was something that she had already shown. Helping her to walk had been a process with the femme and, if she hadn't been willing to listen to my advice, I wasn't sure if she would be as far as she was.

Of course, she had no lack of help. Not only did us officers seem ready to help when needed, but the drones on the ship seemed almost jumpy in wanting to make sure that Pandimala was getting the help that she might need.

Speaking about the drones, there was something that I wanted to ask Soundwave about. "Soundwave, I've noticed that there seem to be fewer drones on the ship than normal. Do you know why that is?" I had been assigned to almost non-stop work on the databases and their organization. If it wasn't for breaks and recharge, I wouldn't have even noticed the lack of drones.

Soundwave glanced at me before he looked back at his work. As he did, he responded to me. "Second lives. Getting to connect to humanity better. Making connections."

Really? Well, that made sense with Lord Megatron's new goals with his approach toward humanity. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. That was especially with Pandimala still learning about her chassis. "What are they doing down there?"

"In a band. Own a bar, farm, and study cafe." Soundwave responded immediately. While those positions weren't as politically enhanced as I thought they would aim for, I realized that they were doing exactly what Lord Megatron wanted for interactions with human society. He didn't want us to focus on the political establishments of humans but the ordinary people themselves. They were far more numerous and, in the instance of some countries, were the leading voices in decisions that were made. Each of the new occupations of the drones on assignment would allow contact with a variety of different regular humans that would allow us to have many different and unique connections.

"And the other drones?" While those occupations made sense as to why a few of the drones were gone, there were way too many missing from the ship for just those missions.

This time, Soundwave paused for a nano before speaking. "Working on a secondary project. Keeping information compartmentalized just in case of capture. Enemy dangerous." While I wanted to know more about this other project that the drones were working on, I knew that Soundwave was right in keeping the information scattered among the officers. Something told me that only Lord Megatron knew the full details about what they were doing. Soundwave might not even know everything for once.

Before I could say anything more, the screen in front of us suddenly changed to show the Earth's atmosphere. Showing just outside of it, were two signals. One Autobot and one Decepticon. We were about to get some company and, while the Autobot one made me nervous, it seemed like we were going to be getting some allies as well. "Well, this should be fun," I commented as Soundwave sent an alert to all the officers, including me, about the arrival. As I waited for Lord Megatron to send his orders to us, I felt a chill go through my systems. I wasn't sure why but hopefully it wouldn't be a bad thing.

Zarron's 1st P.O.V.

She was finally here.

When we had picked up the signal of an Autobot ship entering the atmosphere of this planet, I knew that it was her. Balm would finally bring another medic to our side of the fight, and be a medic that we desperately needed. When the Decepticon signal appeared behind her ship's signal, I knew that we needed to get a retrieval team together to the ship's eventual landing location.

Immediately, I had volunteered to go with the retrieval team since I knew Balm and she would recognize us as allies right away with me there. Optimus had agreed and had then assembled the rest of our recovery team. Optimus, Ratchet, Pitch, Blurr, Wheeljack, and I would be going to recover the femme and whoever it was that brought her. While the six of us had started to make our way through the ground bridge, Blaster was contacting Agent Fowler to tell him about the arrival of more Autobots and the skirmish that was bound to take place.

Once we were through the bridge, I looked to where the downed Autobot ship was and felt my optics widen as I studied the scene in front of me. While I expected to see Balm and another bot since she had needed to get a ride here, I didn't expect for there to be two additional bots with them. Balm was firing at the Decepticons across from her. Next to her was a mech that my files said was a wrecker called Seaspray. He looked battle-worn but determined as he fired at the Decepticons. Then, next to him was a white vehicle mech with a blue visor called Jazz. He was high up on the chain of command and it was very surprising to see him here. Lastly, for the Autobots, and standing next to Jazz, was one of the top officers in the Autobots known as Prowl. A tactical genius who hadn't been seen in stellars. Seeing him here on Earth was something that I was nor prepared for.

If he had been here when I was critically injured by Megatron, then Wheeljack might not have had a chance to throw permission to the winds and inject the gift of Primus inside of me. I would have offlined if it wasn't for Wheeljack helping me. From what Wheeljack told me when I woke up, Ratchet was the only mech who had verbally supported his decision to use the gift on me, and that support was given when they were alone in the medbay.

As the six of us moved to join the four of them, I looked across the way and felt worried as I studied the Decepticons that seemed to have followed Balm and the other three to this planet. The first one that my optics were drawn to was Crumplezone. The large mech was a fearsome opponent on the battlefield on the best of solars for us. He was not afraid to fight any number of us if he was ordered to.

Then, there was a small two-wheeler that was standing next to him. Ransack. The dark red mech with orange optics was one that I had run into on some occasions. Like me, he was a scout and a fragging good one for the Decepticons. Wherever he went, Crumplezone was never very far behind. When I saw Ransack on missions, I knew that I had to act quickly to make sure that I would succeed and get out alright.

After Ransack, my view drifted to the mech who looked very close to Skyquake's look. This was his brother, Dreadwing, and I knew that the large flier was proficient in both the skies and on the ground battlefields. With him on the planet, I knew that we were going to have to be even more wary about the battles that we were out in.

However, it was the last bot that caused my optics to narrow slightly. The seeker that stood slightly back from the fight, though he was still firing at us, was the tactician known as Thrust. His tactical abilities along with his ruthlessness made him a target of many information-gathering trips for me. Even the Guardians were wary when they had to confront the mech at times. It wasn't for his battle prowess, for any of the Guardians could beat him no problem in a fair fight.

No, the problem with him was that he was a sneaky mech who would manipulate a situation to best suit him, no matter what it cost anybot around him. He wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice hundreds of Decepticons, lives that might have been spared, to make advances against us. I would have to be more on edge from now on when I was in battle.

It didn't take the ten of us long to send the four Decepticons through their bridge and, once they were gone, the four new bots turned to us. Our group seemed to stare at their group for a long time before Balm broke the silence.

"Ratch!" Balm cried out with a smile as she ran up to the medic and hugged him. Of course, since he was her mentor when she was just learning the medical trade, he would be the first one she wanted to say hi to.

Ratchet, on his part, looked surprised that Balm was even here. "Balm...what are you doing here? The last I heard from you, you were on one of the satellite planets of Andellor with a group of refugees."

Balm separated from the medic, as the other bots who were with her seemed to fall into conversations with the others before she pulled at me. "Zar called me and said that you all were going to need some more medical help on Earth with the number of bots here. So, I contacted Seaspray and got a trip here." She then smiled at me before she ran up to me and pulled me into a hug. "Zar, it's so great to see you."

Ratchet had been pulled away from us by Jazz at this point so I smiled and hugged her back. "I'm glad you are here Balm." I then motioned to Wheeljack, who was standing behind me. "Balm this is Wheeljack. He and I have become close since my arrival on Earth." I then motioned for the two of them to move closer to me. "He's the only one that I've been able to clear. Cliffjumper is somewhat in the clear but the mech seems to still be torn about where his allegiance should be; with bots in general or the values of the Autobots."

When I looked at Balm, I noticed that she was not looking at me though I didn't doubt that she heard me. Wheeljack and I both looked in the direction that she was and I felt my optics narrow slightly as I realized that she and Pitch were glaring at each other. While I still didn't have a lot of information about Balm's interactions with the mech, I noticed that she seemed nervous behind her glare. "Am I going to be able to know what he did to deserve that?" Wheeljack asked Balm.

That seemed to snap Balm out of the glaring match that she was having with Pitch before she glanced at Wheeljack. "I'll...I'll have to talk to you both later. Looks like we are about to get back to the base here on Earth." She then moved toward Ratchet.

"So, there's something that even you don't know?" Wheeljack teased me as we made to follow the others through the bridge.

I smirked at that. "Yeah, I know. Seems like a shock right?" I then decided to answer him seriously. "But, something severe happened between the two of them on their last encounter. The only ones who know anything about it are Balm, Pitch, and a Decepticon that Balm hasn't been able to talk to me about before. If she is going to tell us about this later, then it may help me in my investigation."

And I hoped that it did. The femme had been burdened with this information for too long and I wanted to help her. As her friend, it was my duty to do whatever I could to help and support her.

Megatron's 1st P.O.V.

I had to resolve this issue, and quickly.

Each of the new arrivals had reacted to Pandimala differently. Dreadwing must have gotten information from her from Skyquake so he was immediately social with her. She had been thrown back by this reaction. It was honestly refreshing to see the femme seem so surprised by another bot's reaction.

Then, Crumplezone had stared at her for a few nanos in a studying way, and she had done this back before he nodded to her once and she did so back.

After that, Ransack had immediately gone up to her and started to ask her questions. Unlike with Dreadwing, the questions seemed to go after her motives and other information. But, she simply smiled and seemed to answer him to his liking because after he was done, he gave her a nod before going to Crumplezone, who was talking to Breakdown.

However, as soon as Thrust came into her view, I noticed that the femme immediately tensed. She had a similar look when she had met Astrotrain and Airachnid, yet this seemed more severe. Every move that he made, she seemed to be watching him. And, Thrust was doing the same to her. I could see the beginnings of the situation I experienced with them.

This time around, however, Pandimala did not seem to be the only one giving those looks to Thrust, or the only one in the crosshairs of the newly arrived Decepticon. The interaction between Pandimala and Thrust was also being shared between Shockwave and Thrust. I had just been able to stabilize my troops from the last two Decepticons that were causing trouble in my ranks, and that had brought me down two soldiers in my Decepticons. I would not lose any more than was necessary.

And, as I stared at the screens that surrounded me on the bridge, I realized a way that I could accomplish that. From even before her time as one of us, Pandimala had been working with Shockwave, Soundwave, and Vox to gather a collection of decoded coordinates of the relics in both the Iacon and Praxus databases.

Since Thrust seemed to be the center of the tension between my three strategists, I would have him give the initial plan. Like with our strategy during our retrieval of Vox and Breakdown from MECH, I would allow arguments to be made. My plan was for the three Strategists to test each other in this way and gain an understanding of each other.

Of course, I understood the drawbacks of this plan. In doing this, I could deepen the rift between Thrust and the other two. Doing so would cause a similar problem that came about with Astrotrain and Airachnid. However, I might have both Pandimala and Shockwave in the crosshairs of Thrust, and him in theirs. All three had shown their processor prowess capable of launching my ship into full strategical warfare. Sides would be chosen and, despite the connections Pandimala seemed to have made on the ship and Shockwave's connections, I knew Thrust was a shrewd Decepticon who could work situations to his favor.

Even with the risk in front of me, I knew that the outcome I wanted would be the most favorable so I sent a private message to Thrust. "Thrust, prepare a plan to retrieve the data cylinder 4049 from the Praxus database. Have your plan ready to present in one cycle time.-Lord Megatron."

While I waited for his response, I sent a message to the other Decepticons to meet on the bridge in one cycle. Having Pandimala and Shockwave work with him to make a better plan for the future. If this would work, then the Decepticons would be ready for any challenge the Autobots might bring. However, something told me that, like every other plan we had since bringing Pandimala into our fold as Lizzie, it wouldn't go quite right. However, I did find that they did make the Decepticons better for the future.

"I shall have it immediately, my Lord.-Thrust" I sighed

That didn't mean, though, that I would hesitate in removing her if that was necessary. My priorities, first and foremost, would be to the Decepticons. They fought for me and I would not betray my faction. If the femme needed to ever be removed from the faction, and from being online, then I would not hesitate in giving the order or even terminating her myself.

It did not escape my notice that the drones seemed to have a loyalty to the femme, and that notice was confirmed from a small report by Skyquake. The mech reported about a situation that could happen should Pandimala turn against us. Many of the drones had shown that their loyalty toward Pandimala may outweigh the loyalty that they should have toward the Decepticons.

As long as the femme remained loyal to me then this would not be a problem. However, if the femme tried to betray me, I would have to do a cleansing of the troops. We would lose many of the drones if she betrayed us. I had to give the femme credit, she did know how to make connections, and connections were important for a strategist.

The cycle flew by faster than I thought it would and, soon, my Decepticon elite were in the room facing toward me. Thrust then stepped forward before bringing up a holo of the area surrounding the data cylinder's location. "From my research, the land surrounding the relic is soft debris and can be easily moved with minimal force, a troop of drones would easily be able to retrieve this without any of the higher command. If the Autobots do appear, they will be forced to funnel into the canyon structure and give us time to retrieve the relic and suffer minimal losses." He then turned to me. "This should be the best plan for the retrieval of this relic."

Shockwave, not to my surprise, was the first to respond to this plan. "Your scans do not show the deeper materials near the location off the relic."

Thrust shook his helm at that. "My scans leave off two meters only. The amount of distance on this planet between different geological planes would not make much difference in my plans Shockwave." While I disagreed with Thrust, given what we had experienced, this was a test to try and get my three strategists on better terms with each other.

Taking a glance out of the corner of my optic, I saw that Pandimala seemed to be studying Thrust's model intensely. I could see that something was troubling the femme about his plan. "I think that there is something you are not taking into account." Pandimala finally spoke while stepping forward.

Her vocalization caused Shockwave and Thrust, who looked like they were about to get into an argument, to turn to her. Shockwave seemed to calm down at her vocalization and seemed to calmly wait for her to explain.

However, Thrust seemed to study Pandimala for a nano before he frowned. "Ah, the new femme." I had to resist raising an optic ridge at his tone. Femmes and mechs were equally as capable of serving the Decepticon cause and I never supported any thoughts otherwise, though I never punished mechs and femmes who thought this way unless it negatively affected the workings of the operation I was running. "And, what pray tell, do you believe that you have found wrong with my deductions?"

No hesitation could be seen by the femme as she moved toward Thrust's holo projection. Once she stood in front of it, she moved the display so we were looking at an area five miles north of the location. "From your assessment, you would be having the troops be bridged in six miles south of the location of the relic. From that direction, that is a logical approach. However, located five miles north of the relic's location is an operational Autobot mine that we know of. The Autobots have the capability of either launching a counter-attack or even ambushing our forces. That attack, in such small quarters, could devastate the troops we send."

I noticed a flicker of anger flash across the femme's optics when Thrust let out a scoff. "Typical femme thinking. From information gathered about the Autobot forces here, they have access to lesser technology than us. Also, the Autobots would strategize before launching any counter-attack and that would give our troops time to retrieve the relic before they made significant damages to our troops. You are simply jumping to silly conclusions." At that last line, I noticed that Shockwave tensed and his optic dilated for a brief nano. I could feel the tension between my strategists rising.

This was not going how I wanted it to.

Pandimala frowned at Thrust and shook her helm. "While the Autobots may have access to lesser technology than we do, sending the drones out when Autobots with greater fighting capabilities may come into conflict with them is suicide. We would lose many assets for a cylinder that we will not know what is inside of it if we even get the relic at all. If we use your plan, then I would suggest we have one of us officers travel with the platoon of drones we send out, to add extra protection while the relic is retrieved. With an officer with the group, they won't suffer as many losses."

"And yet another simplistic view," Thrust smirked at the femme. "Sending an officer on such a simple recovery mission would pull them from other work that they could otherwise be doing to advance our troops. Our warriors can work on training, our communication's officers can work on trying to locate the Autobot base, I'm sure our medics have inventory that they need to run," He then looked between Pandimala and Shockwave. "And it seems that our newest strategist could use some polishing up some."

From the angered looks on Pandimala's and Shockwave's faceplates, I knew that I needed to step in and stop this before the tension between my three strategists grew worse. "We will move forward with the strategy presented by Thrust in full. Thrust, organize the troops you will be sending on this mission. Pandimala, Shockwave, Thrust, Vox, and Soundwave; you will remain here with me while the rest of you will go about the ship and work on training. Our ship is not in top shape and the Decepticons need to be if we are facing the Autobots as they are now." My Decepticons then moved at my word, with those I said to stay in this room staying except for Thrust, who had to organize this mission.

Pandimala, to my slight surprise, didn't make any retorts or arguments once I approved. Even with the loyalty she had shown in her past form and her present form, I knew that fighting the programing that came with being a triple-changer would affect the femme. Being challenged so blatantly like that should have caused the femme to retaliate against the mech. When he was challenging her, I could see the desire come to her optics.

Yet, all she did was throw looks at the mech and challenge his plan logically. While she did not make the argument she needed to overcome Thrust's plan, she didn't retaliate physically to all of the challenges that Thrust threw at her. Most other triple changers that I had met, even ones that hadn't popped their wings like Pandimala, would have torn Thrust apart at that. Blitzwing had even looked close to tearing the mech apart if he wasn't standing so far away from the mech.

My thoughts focused on the monitor in front of me as the view from the lead drone's visor feedback came through and Thrust returned to the room. At first, events seemed to be moving as Thrust told. The drones didn't have much problem moving toward the location of the relic. As the drones moved, though, it was simple to see that they were nervous.

Once they made to start digging for the relic, however, things fell apart.

The first shot came from above the miners, taking them out quickly. The Autobots Pitch and Flamewar appeared from the top of the canyon structure as they continued to pick off the drones. Some of the drones were trying to fire back against the two Autobots while others moved to cover. It seemed the training that they were doing with my officers were helping them slightly. Though, as each one fell, I could see that this mission was going to be a failure.

Glancing out of the corner of my optic, I looked at the reactions of my three strategists. Thrust seemed highly surprised that the Autobots had set up this ambush. His plan was falling apart in front of his optics. Shockwave, as I expected, kept a neutral look about him for the most part. The only difference being that his optic was slightly dimmed. Most bots wouldn't notice it if they were looking.

However, Pandimala's was the reaction I wanted to see. The points that she had brought up against Thrust's plan were happening before our optics. The drones that I knew she cared about were paying for this failed mission. Instead of any sort of hatred in her optics, I was surprised to see despair. There were no harsh words towards Thrust for the plan that he presented and argued for. The only outward display of emotion that I could see from the femme was the shaking of her servos as she had them at her sides.

I wasn't sure whether I was impressed with the femme or concerned. She was keeping her calm about the situation and that was what impressed me. However, the femme was holding back her anger and those emotions needed to be released. Otherwise, they would back-up in a bot's systems and could cause damage.

As I returned my view to the massacre happening, I started to think of ways I could encourage the femme to release her anger positively. Normally, putting the femme in training was the answer I would go with. However, with the femme so new to her chassis, I did not want her to push herself too hard and cause more problems. So, I would have to find another way for the femme to release some of the anger she was holding in.

Flare's 1st P.O.V.

I owed that femme my spark.

There was no way around that fact. The femme was probably the reason I was online this very solar. Before Pandimala had arrived on this ship in her human form, being a drone had meant that my chances of staying online were very slim. We were fodder, used to test certain points about the enemy, and the loss in our numbers was something that every drone knew that they would be a part of sooner rather than later.

Honestly, I had been surprised I lasted so long to be a part of Lizzie's test to see if she would become a member of our ranks. I had expected for the casualties to us drones to run high in the battle. We drones weren't thought much of by the higher command as it was, and I had a feeling that the short lifespan of the human meant that she would sacrifice a lot of us due to her inexperience. When I had exited the bridge onto the frozen lands of Rudulf Island, I had thought that would be my last battlefield. My vision was filled with the images of my sparkless chassis being overtaken by the frozen particles around me surrounded by my fallen drone brethren. I thought we were going to offline at the words of a human child.

However, that battle was the starting point of changes that were to come to the Decepticons from that solar forward. Instead of being fodder, the human femme started to use us drones as an integral strategic part of her plans. As a femme now, I doubted that would change. She cared for us, that I could tell. When she was human, each of our offlinings hurt her and she had encouraged the other officers to start training us when they could.

Glancing at the time, I realized that I was supposed to meet Florian and Frost in the rec room before we went to do some training with some of the others. So, I stood from my bunk and moved from the room that I shared with twenty other drones, including Florian and Frost. The walk to the rec room didn't take me long and, once I was at the door, I walked inside.

I was surprised, however, to see that Florian and Frost looked angry at about four of the others who looked like they just got fixed up in med bay. "We barely got out of that canyon online," G44R-3T, or Garret, growled.

HA7-03N, also called Hayden, nodded at that. "We thought we could trust her. But, Pandimala walked us right into a trap by the Autobots without any sort of help. There were fifty of us who went and only the four of us got out. So much for the higher-ups starting to appreciate us."

"Cut the slag," I growled as I walked up to them.

They all turned to me before K043-N, called Koren, spoke. "You weren't there Flare. The Autobots had us cornered in a canyon and we were bots to the slaughter. The only reason we got away was that the Autobots got the relic and their Prime ordered them back to their base."

"But that doesn't give you the right to blame Pandimala! She has been the one to treat us with the most respect. She would give her spark for us just like I am willing to trust her with mine."

"Then you would be offline this solar." M0-UN7, also known as Mount, shot at me. "We don't know which officer made the plan this solar but, since Pandimala uses us more than most, then it isn't hard to guess who is responsible."

"You're wrong," Frost growled. I shivered at that. Frost never got angry like this. "I spoke to Joe before I got in here and he said that Knockout told him that it was the new mech, Thrust, that came up with the plan. Pandimala tried to argue against it but her inexperience compared to Thrust outweighed her arguments."

Mount, Koren, Garret, and Hayden all seemed surprised when Frost gave his response. "We...I didn't know."

"Obviously," Florian shook his helm. "Haven't you been going to the training sessions with Shockwave?" The silence that followed said he was the only one in this group who went to those. Most of us went to the officers offering fighting or flying training. A good few had taken Joe's route and went to Knockout and Hook for medical training. But, only a small number of us went to the intelligence bots for training...and even fewer went to Shockwave. Florian was the only drone I was close to that did.

"Nope," Koren answered him. "You're one of the few bots I know that are crazy enough to do that."

Florian shook his helm. "Anyways, he stresses that before a bot opens their vocals to speak, they need to make sure that they have all the information on a subject that they can get. We all know Joe," Yeah because the mech was one of the most social drones on the ship. Plus, he was good friends with Carl and that drone had some pull. "So you should always at least check with him before starting rumors."

Well, with everything seemingly settled, I figured I was the best bot to get our group moving. "Alrighty, now that we have had our lessons learned, I say we head to our training room and get some rounds in while we can."

The others nodded and so the seven of us made our way to the training room. After we finished training, I was to go on patrol with Florian and Flare. I wasn't sure what we were going to be looking for but I knew we were going to be out there for five cycles. This training was going to be a great way to get geared up for…

My thoughts halted as the door to the training room opened and I looked inside. Behind me, I could vaguely hear the others ask what I was doing and why'd I stop. I wanted to answer them. But, I was still trying to process what was in front of me.

After a few clicks, I moved out of the way so the others could see what I was seeing.

There, in front of the seven of us, was Pandimala. She was sitting in the middle of the training room floor and she looked upset. My immediate thoughts went to the situation I just helped stopped with Hayden and the other three with us and I felt panic in my spark. Had she heard how upset these four were at her? "Pandimala, are you alright?" I quickly asked her.

She glanced up at the seven of us before she answered. "I am so sorry."

"Pandimala, you don't have anything to be sorry about," Frost tried to reassure her.

But the femme in question just shook her helm. "No, I do." She then looked between us all again. "I moved for all of you to become more active on the battlefield. I even asked the other officers if they could give you all training to help move you in a direction to make you capable of lasting in the field."

"Then you have nothing to be sorry for Pandimala. That's more than any officer has ever done for us before," Mount argued. I could see the guilty look on his faceplate.

"I didn't do enough," Pandimala argued. "Yes, I know that I am new to my chassis, but I could have asked to have you all in with my training. I could have even worked a little with you myself on some self-defense techniques that I used to use when I was human. But no," I felt even more panic when she started to look even more upset. "I sat on the sidelines and let the other officers do the work that I wanted to be done. They are busy bots, even more than I am, and that makes it less likely for you all to get the training that might have helped save so many sparks today."

My spark wasn't going to take much more of hearing Pandimala upset like this. "Pandimala, you've done so much for us," Florian started to speak up.

However, Pandimala suddenly moving to her pedes caused him to go quiet and we all waited for what she was going to do. "I've made mistakes, but there is one I do not intend to make again." I flinched as a determined look suddenly came to her faceplate. If I was in trouble, I would fear for my continued onlining with that look. "Whenever I get some free time, I will be in here to train with any of you who wants to. I will be able to learn from you, and I can teach you what I can." She then, to my relief, smiled at us for the first time since we got in here. "So, who's ready for round one?"

Authoress: *sings* Let's get down to business, to re-train, the drones!

Flare: *tilts helm* Did you steal that from Mulan?

Authoress: *shrugs* I only own the story and my OCs. So, using a variation of something else I don't own is common practice. If I didn't, then you would be simply 'drone' and not Flare.

Florian: *hits Flare on helm before he can say something stupid* Our apologies Authoress.

Pandimala: *walks in* Did I miss something?

AN: And here is the next chapter! I am so ecstatic with all of this tension going on with both sides! The Autobots have a new tension with Balm's arrival. What is the past between her and Pitch? Well, it seems that we may find out soon.

Of course, most of the chapter is with the Decepticons and frag is there a bunch of tension. A new bunch of troops arrives on their side as well and it is a variety. Ransack and Crumplezone (based off of Cybertron verse) are going to be a lot of fun to write in the future, and then we will get a couple of interesting scenes with Dreadwing and Skyquake (gotta abuse any twins when I can). And lastly, we have Thrust. All I gotta say is that we have a whole lot of fun ahead since he is based on Armada verse Thrust.

The next chapter will be having some more Autobot moments as we have some scenes that resemble some parts of the show. Also, Pandimala will be getting some advanced battle training from some of the other Decepticons who aren't going to be interacting with the Autobots. XD

Speaking of the next chapter, here are the titles of the next chapters!

Chapter 32: A Long Road (Crossfire)

Chapter 33: Learning How to Trust (Nemesis Prime)

Chapter 34:...(find out next time!)

I know this is a long note at the end but there is one more thing I feel like I need to do. So, I am going to give a list of all the major players on both sides (meaning that are usually at home bases of both sides)

Autobot: Optimus Prime, Cliffjumper, Ratchet, Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Blaster, Eject, Blurr, Sentinel Major, Pitch, Flamewar, Zarron, Ironhide, Springer, Chromia, Rewind, Seaspray, Balm, Prowl, and Jazz.

Human: Miko, Jack, Raf, June, Agent Fowler

Decepticons: Megatron, Starscream Soundwave, Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Knockout, Breakdown, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Vox, Skyquake, Shockwave, Blitzwing, Hook, Pandimala, Ransack, Crumplezone, Thrust, and Dreadwing. (And a bunch of drones)

Rogues: Astrotrain and Airachnid.

And that is all for now folks. Please leave a review if you would like, or just say hi. Either way, I hope you all enjoyed this! Well, that's all for now. TTYL! *smirks at plans for future*