Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.

Raf: So, Pandimala what do you like to do for fun?

Pandimala: *smiles* I like to write stories when I can, along with training, and looking up random information.

Raf: Like what?

Pandimala: Like how there is a sea slug that can survive being decapitated.

Raf: *stares worriedly*

Chapter 46: The Right Steps

Raf's 1st P.O.V.

"So, your activity turned out alright?" Pandimala asked me as she stood next to the balcony for us humans.

When Bumblebee had brought me to base, he had to immediately go out on patrol so I was alone. Well, that was what I thought before Pandimala walked out in her actual bot form. She offered to put her chassis away and come out in soliform, but I knew that she hadn't spent a lot of time out just walking around in her bot form...well, according to Bumblebee. He told me that he had barely seen her more than four times in the month since she had been here and revealed to be in her bot form. So, I told her that it was kinda nice talking to her like this.

Honestly, though, her bot form was kinda intimidating. She was taller than Optimus, though not by a lot, which meant that she towered over all of us. Then, she seemed a lot more...battle-built than most of the other bots here. Even Springer, the other triple-changer at the base, seemed more mundane than she did. Her chassis already had scuffs over it, two giant cannons on her shoulders that couldn't be put away, and just an imposing presence about her.

But when she talked to me, it was like all of that was just a mask. She was nice and always seemed to pay attention to what was going on with me. Not just responding to whatever I brought up.

Even now, asking about my communication class activity. 'Bee didn't even do that. I had to tell him about it. Not that I minded. He always listened when I talked. He was like a big brother to me. But, Pandimala was going out of her way to start a conversation that was about something that I had mentioned before. Yes, she had helped me with it, but so had some of the others and they hadn't asked about it either.

"Oh, I passed with extra credit as well," I responded to Pandimala, causing her to smile. "The teacher said that it was obvious that I prepared for this assignment with how easy my group talked with each other."

"That's great Raf," She then looked to the side. "If only every being could communicate as well."

She must be talking about her talk with Paul and Miko a few days ago. Everyone had heard about how badly that had gone for all of them. The tension between Pandimala, Paul, and Miko only seemed to get worse after they were done and, even though none of us know what was talked about, we could all tell that it didn't go well. "Do you mean your talk with Paul and Miko?" I asked before covering my mouth. That wasn't my place to ask about. "Sorry,"

When Pandimala laughed, I looked up to her and saw she was smiling down at me. "Raf, never apologize for asking a good question. Stupid questions, yeah be cautious of those. But, that wasn't a stupid question." She then paused. "Part of it was that talk. I can't say what we talked about, but it wasn't handled with the most care for what both sides needed to speak on." I noticed a flicker of anger cross her optics at that. "But, it's not just the communication between the three of us that I am worried about. Honestly, that's one of my least concerns about communication right now."

"Then who are you worried about?" I asked her. I was sure that wasn't a stupid question.

Pandimala looked toward the doors before letting out a vent, which is what they do to sigh according to Ratchet. "Honestly Raf, I worry about most of the communication between the Autobots. Outside of missions and scouting trips, there isn't much intercommunication between the others. Oh, they have their little clicks that they will talk in for the most part. But, I can feel the distrust between everybot around here."

I wanted to argue with her, but I knew she was right. Outside of a few times, I never really saw 'Bee talk to anybot casually who wasn't here when we humans first got involved. And those other bots that kept coming to Earth, for the most part, stuck around bots that they seemed to know well from before. But, intermingling didn't happen much. I had barely even seen Rewind and Eject much outside of Blaster's room. I bet that they would be amazing to meet.

"Yeah, I can see that," I finally answered her. She didn't ask a question but I still felt like I needed to answer her. "Do you think that there is any way for it to get better here?"

Her wings flinched slightly when I asked that, though I wasn't sure why. When she looked toward me, she looked impressed. "You know Raf, there are bots in the building that are older than human civilization...some even older than life on our planet itself. Yet you are the first here that seems to want it to get better. You, who is the youngest being on the Autobot side here on Earth, seem to be trying to fix a rift that beings millions of years older can't seem to wrap their processors around." She then let out another vent before her wings flinched slightly. "Do you want my advise Raf?"

"Yeah. What do you think I could do Pandimala?" While I knew that she wasn't much older than Jack, I also knew that she had to survive and, from the Decepticon insignia on her chassis, thrive on the Decepticon ship for all that time before the Autobots brought her here. She had real experience with communication that, even though we had been brought into the Autobots kinda unexpectedly, she was put in a position a lot scarier than mine...and she seemed to make the best of it. So her advice would be really helpful.

She leaned against the wall next to the human area before smiling. "Talk to as many different bots as you can. If you feel intimidated talking to the bigger bots at first, then maybe start with Blaster's twins, Rewind and Eject. Get to know them, and not just as bots, but as other beings." She then seemed to hesitate for a nano before she continued. "I kinda got thrown in feet first on the Nemesis at first, so I had to talk with many different bots at times even though I mentally wasn't ready for that kind of conversation. There was one time I was clinging to a grate for my life and had to talk to some of the drones. I was not ready for talking with them before that point. But, they helped me down and now I consider many of them to be my close friends." She seemed happy when thinking about that memory.

"But, I'm just one of a few humans at the base. What can I do?" Miko and Jack were both more outgoing than I was and Pandimala back then had been the only human on the ship...at least for a while.

I jumped when Pandimala suddenly stood up from her leaning position and placed her helm close to me. "Rafael Esquivel; you alone sought out a giant enemy triple changer back before everybot knew who I was and, after making sure I was alright, was able to have an amazing conversation with me. I'd like to think of you as a friend. Now, if you could do that with a bot as terrifying as I know I can be, then I have no doubt in my processor that you," She then moved one of her digits to me until it barely tapped me, "can do something amazing if you simply talk to bots who you know are on your side." She then smirked. "And who knows? With enough time, you could even help bring the Autobots closer together."

"Is that what happened with you with the Decepticons?" I asked before I could think about what I was asking.

Instead of getting angry, however, Pandimala shook her helm. "Sorry Raf, but I don't kiss and tell," She then started to walk away. "If anybot asks where I am, I went to the training rooms. I don't want to see you for the rest of the day, Raf unless you are with another bot." Her smile at the end told me that she wasn't mad at me. But, from how she was talking, she was wanting me to start talking to other bots right away.

I gulped slightly at that. I wasn't confident about talking with some of the bots. But, then I remembered her suggestion about Rewind and Eject. So, I stood up and made my way down the gangplank. I was pretty sure I could find Blaster's room and get to know them better.

Zarron's 1st P.O.V.

I smirked as Pandimala left the main room. I had just returned to base when I overheard some of their conversation. Pandimala had the right idea. Get the humans more involved with regular interactions at the base, and between multiple groups, and it should at least get some of us talking casually. Of course, it was easy to see when she noticed my arrival. She had faced herself toward the entryway and kept stealing glances toward me during her talk with the youngest human. Something told me that, at the end of their conversation, she would have told Raf the answer to his question if I wasn't standing there.

Once the young human had made his way out of the room, I finally entered the main room and looked around. The kid was right on one point, though. Talking with some of the bots here was not going to be easy. That was even excluding Sentinel and that trio. A shiver traveled up my backplates at the thought of them. We had too many close calls lately when the three of them were involved. Looking toward where the previous human femme had just walked to, I realized that many of those incidents, as of late, involved the triple changer. I would have to keep a closer optic out on that.

"I wouldn't make any travel plans just yet," I turned toward the hallway to the rooms and watched as Arcee, Bumblebee, Jazz, and Prowl were coming out. Prowl was the one who had spoken. What were they talking about?

"Yeah bots, we may have gotten the Star Sabre for Optimus...but was I the only one who thought it went down kinda hinky?" Jazz added in. Ah, so the others were getting confident because we were able to retrieve the Star Sabre for Optimus since only a Prime could use the sword.

And Jazz brought up something else that was bothering me. That fight for the Star Sabre. It went way too smoothly. Yes, we had most of our troops there. However, most of the defense around the blade was shoddy at best, especially given how the Decepticons had been operating lately. "You aren't the only one," I jumped into their conversation. "The Decepticons seemed too lax around the blade. It was almost like they didn't even care that we got it."

"But that's crazy. Megatron had to know what sort of power we would get from Optimus having the Star Sabre." Bumblebee added in.

Arcee nodded. "Yeah, and I don't see him just giving us a legendary weapon that Optimus can use against him."

"But that is their point," Prowl jumped in, a thoughtful look on his faceplate. "The Star Sabre puts us ahead of the Decepticons in terms of firepower. Yet, during the fight, there was not a single officer that stayed close to the blade while they unearthed it. It only took a little fighting on our side to cause Megatron to pull his forces back. For a weapon that powerful, Megatron did not show much resistance in letting us take it."

"So what are you saying?" Arcee asked with a narrowed-optic look.

"I believe," We all turned to see Optimus walk in with Elita and Smokescreen. "That we should keep a closer optic on the Decepticons moving forward. Megatron is planning something, and that seems to have included our retrieval of the Star Sabre. Zarron, Arcee, Smokescreen; I need you three to investigate a signal that has appeared in the local region known as Egypt. I believe the Decepticons may be up to something there, given the rudeness of the signal. The rest of you stay nearby."

I nodded as Prowl moved to the ground bridge, assumingly to activate the coordinates. Once the bridge was open, the three of us moved through. On the other side, the daylight hours were starting to fade and I had to adjust my optics accordingly. Over near one of the pyramids, I could see a few drones moving around buckets of sand.

"So, stealth and wait for them to uncover whatever it is?" I asked the two of them.

While Smokescreen looked put out at that suggestion, Arcee nodded. "Sounds logical."

So, the three of us hunkered down behind a wall before we started to watch the drones continue working. The clicks started to blur as we watched them move the piles of sand outside of the pyramid. While it seemed like it would be a simple task to get the relic from the drones, I knew that it was also better to let the enemy do as much of the work for you as you could let them.

But, as I watched the drones, I realized that they were not moving that the over-exhaustive paces that I had seen from different sites off-world in the past. The pace seemed calm and the drones were seemingly chatting with each other. The opposite of how I knew them to act before. If I was listening right, some were even talking about making sure they watched a human sport called baseball on the monitors once their shifts were done. Probably wasn't an officer here to be watching,

That thought blew out of my processor when heavy pedesteps seemed to be coming from out of the entrance to the pyramid. Slag who was this?

I could feel the others tense next to me as Megatron himself walked out of the mine, carrying what looked like a giant ax. "Yo, that's the Daystorm Axe." Smokescreen pointed out. "I heard Alpha Trion mention it before. One of the ancients made it to balance out the power of the weapons of the Thirteen Primes. There were a lot of weapons made during that time and the Daystorm Axe was one of them."

"We need to back out," I muttered lowly as I started to look around.

To my surprise, Arcee shook her helm. "No. It's only Megatron here and that drone looks like he has another container with a relic in it. We have to get it from them immediately."

"Yeah mech, there are three of us anyways. We can take them," Was this mech paying attention at all? Yes. If it was just Megatron and the one drone we might have a chance of getting one of the relics from him. But there were at least fifteen other drones here and, as we had all witnessed, the drones were becoming more proficient on the battlefield.

"You two have an offlining wish! We are not in any position," I started to whisper yell at them. But, before I could finish, both of the idiots jumped from our cover and started to charge at the group. "Of all the impulsive, block-helmed bots, I get these two." Arcee must be feeling pretty confident still since we did have the Star Sabre. She was usually more calm in this kind of situation. So, while those two started to attack the drones and Megatron, I got on the comms. "Hey base, we could use some backup. The 'Cons have two relics. Smokescreen identified one as the Daystorm Axe but I can't tell what the other is. Arcee and Smokescreen are trying to get it now." And they were morons. "Only officer here seems to be Megatron, but more could be in the pyramid."

"We read you Zarron," Optimus spoke through. "I will be coming to your coordinates with Ironhide and Springer for backup. Hold your position as long as you can." The communication then ran out.

...Hold my position? I was the only bot left in this section and I had the big bot himself coming toward me. From the entrance to the pyramid, I already saw that we were wrong in the number of officers here as Starscream walked through with an annoyed look on his faceplate. Slag. Good thing I called in backup.

Well, since Megatron was coming toward me, I had better make sure to buy our backup some time to get here. So, I charged forward and immediately had to slide to dodge the swipe from the ax. Slag that was too close. And it seemed to give off energy similar to the Star Sabre. Scrap I was in trouble.

"Ah, little Autobot. I find it strange that we keep crossing blades," Megatron taunted with another swing of the ax. I dodged and tried to counter-strike with my blades, only for him to use the shaft of the ax to block my blows.

"Well, I guess I just step up to fight more than others," I smirked at him before trying to get in a few blows. "Gotta say though big bot, you sure can swing that ax," I commented after a very forceful attack from the mech sent me back.

"Ah yes, the Daystorm Axe. Lore has it that those who wield the ax determine the power level it produces. In my servos, it could even challenge the Star Sabre in the servos of the Prime." Megatron spoke of his ax before he charged toward me again. I dodged his swing and tried to get onto his backplates. Figured that his ax would be less likely to reach me there. For a few nanos, it did distract him. But, since I was focusing on holding on for my spark, I didn't have an opening to attack him. So, I scrambled on his backplates while he tried to maneuver to get me off.

After about two clicks, I flinched as I felt his servo grab my helm and I went airborne. From the glimpses I could grab from the spinning I was doing, another officer had joined the fight. I couldn't tell who it was right now, but I knew that we were outnumbered. I flinched as my chassis slammed into the sand and rolled for a few nanos. Once I stopped moving, I shakily stood back up. I couldn't afford to lay down right now. Not in the middle of a fight like this. Taking in the battlefield, Arcee seemed to have taken the relic canister but was fighting Starscream for it. Then, the hot-energon rookie was trading blows with Ransack. That mech had better be careful. Ransack was not an opponent to take lightly, despite how he talked at times. When the mech focused, he was fast and could take unsuspecting bots by surprise.

I flinched as an arc of energy from the ax in Megatron's servos barely missed me. Where the frag was Prime at? It had been a servo-full of clicks and he wasn't here yet. I was good, but I couldn't keep up a fight against Megatron for long. I wasn't a moron. I knew my limits. I could distract, maybe get a hit or two in if I was lucky. But, taking on a bot of Megatron's size and ability for any length of time was suicide for me.

Finally, I heard the sound of the ground-bridge opening, and Optimus, along with Ironhide and Springer, joined in the fight. As Optimus moved toward the two of us, Megatron seemed to scan the battlefield and, for the briefest nano, I would swear I saw him smirk. "Decepticons fall back. Soundwave, prepare a ground bridge for our withdrawal."

Then, Optimus finally arrived at us and so the two started to cross blades. While I heard the sound of the Decepticon bridge opening and saw the drones start to fall back while the officers held us back, I could only focus on Megatron. And that was a dangerous thing for a scout like me to do. Focusing solely on Megatron meant that I was going to be unaware of what was going on right now.

But, that smirk had me worried. He had to know that we took the other relic from the drone that had it. He had to. But, in that one smirk, I felt like we were being played. Every single one of my instincts was practically screaming this at me. As Optimus and Megatron fought in front of me, Star Sabre vs Daystorm Axe, that was exactly what I felt. Megatron seemed to be casually throwing his strikes at Optimus like he didn't care that we took the other key. What the frag was going on?

"Hey mech you alright?" I flinched when I felt a servo contact my backplates but, when I glanced up, I saw that it was Smokescreen and he looked concerned. "You've been just standing there watching them fight. The rest of the Decepticons already fell back. We got that canister though, so that's good."

I tuned out the mech as I focused on the two dueling leaders. Even as Megatron made his retreat, he looked fully in control of the fight. It was like everything that happened went exactly how he wanted it to. But, why would he want us to get whatever was in the canister? Was it another fake like back on Rudolf Island?

"Something's not right," I muttered as I stood up, the Decepticons now gone.

"What do you mean mech?" Smokescreen asked as we moved with the others to join Optimus. "Yeah they got the Axe, but we got the other relic and none of us got badly hurt. I count that as a win any solar of the stellar."

Was this mech this...optimistic? It wasn't usual for a mech to act like this. Even a bot as young as Bumblebee wasn't this upbeat about what was around him. I was going to have to look into Smokescreen here a bit more. I might be able to take him into confidence if this wasn't just an act. While the situation here on Earth seemed to teeter on the edge of anarchy every so often, there were always bots that seemed to bring bots to heel. Wheeljack, Balm, Ratchet, and possibly now Smokescreen were trustworthy enough to take into confidence. Of course, if it wasn't for the Prime here to keep everybot grounded, something told me that my investigation would have finished a while back. But, while the Prime was present, it seemed like everybot was on their better behaviors...not like that said much for certain bots at the base. But, it did say just enough to avoid me sending in guaranteed names that had fallen from what the Autobots were supposed to stand for.

"You with us still Zarron?" I shuttered my optics and realized that I had been so deep in my thoughts that we had already returned to base. Wheeljack, who had nudged me out of my thoughts, smirked. "You seem a little lost."

I shook my helm. "It's a lot of things."

"The 'Cons?" Wheeljack asked with a frown.

Nodding, I motioned to the ground bridge. "It was strange, I was fighting Megatron," I winced as Wheeljack gave me a helm-slap at that.

"What have I said about you taking on the bigger bots on your own?" Wheeljack asked as we started to move toward medbay.

I rolled my optics in response. "Didn't have much a choice this time. The two they put on the mission with me decided to jump out when we had the disadvantage and I ended up having only the big bot left to fight. Anyways, that fight felt off the entire time. Megatron seemed to have wanted everything to happen as it did. Didn't even look too angry that we got whatever was in that canister."

"So, you were really out of it?" We had entered medbay at that time and, of course, the old mech had to get his two credits in. He then motioned to the berth. "Sit down so I can get you checked over," I nodded before getting on the berth. Once Ratchet started work, he continued, "Arcee opened the canister as soon as you lot got back. Optimus identified it as one of the Omega Keys. Having all four will allow one side to breathe life back into Cybertron." He then seemed to study me over. "You don't look as excited about this news as I thought you would."

I glanced at the medic. "That battle...it felt off. When we got there, we could only see drones. No officers to speak of. And then the first one that pops out is slagging Megatron? He hasn't been to many of the relic locations in the past so he had to know that there were important relics there. Not only that but there were two more officers there and they didn't bother coming out right away when the fight started. We doubtfully would have retrieved the relic if either of them had come out quickly. Then, when Optimus and the others showed up, Megatron almost seemed...smug. Like he knew exactly what was going on and things were going to his plans."

"So, you're saying that Megatron wanted us to get the Omega Key?" Wheeljack asked after a few clicks of silence.

"As strange as it sounds, yes. It's like he has an ultimate plan that we are walking right into by getting this key. But, I'm not sure what it could be." I growled and put my servos to my helm.

"Hold still you idiot," Ratchet grumbled as I moved. Guess he was working on a weld.

"Sorry, doc," I muttered as he continued working.

To my surprise, Wheeljack then spoke up. "This might sound crazy, but I might have an idea about what is going on." The two of us looked at him. "Isn't it strange? Pandimala keeps talking about peace with a number of us, and then this stuff with Megatron letting us get this Omega Key? What if the Decepticons are getting ready for peace talks?"

"The Decepticons? Getting ready for talks?" Ratchet asked in disbelief.

"I get it Sunshine, it sounds crazy. But, if the Decepticons are looking at peace, maybe letting us get the Omega Key is them making sure we have something to bring to the table. Cause honestly, we don't have much going for us. The Autobots are on the edges of falling apart. That's the reason you're here Zarron. If the Decepticons have noted this, they would realize we would need negotiating power at a peace table. What better power to give us than one of the keys to saving our homeworld?"

We both looked at him but, with every word that he spoke, I realized that what he was saying was valid. It would explain the way the Decepticons had been acting toward us lately as well as Pandimala's strange questions. Thinking about earlier this solar, I also realized that Pandimala was doing more. By using Raf, she was trying to mend the smaller rifts that had appeared in us Autobots here on Earth. Using a resource that we already trusted, and having him try to bring more bots together. It seemed even more likely that the Decepticons were working toward our factions finally having peace.

But, there was just one problem.

"None of this is in fact. It's an option but we have to keep our processors open." I spoke. "While they could be trying to work toward peace, they could also be trying to have just let our guards down so they can launch a full-scale attack against us. We'll keep the peace option in processor, but we can't focus on it. From now on, when we are in a fight with the Decepticons, we need to pay attention to what they are doing and how they are doing it. We should be able to get more evidence to their plans as that click."

The other two nodded at that. But, while I was being skeptical for now, I knew that the idea of peace seemed strong for what was going on. I wouldn't get anybot's hopes up, and I would not include the possibility in my report for now, but now I could feel the hope of peace; a feeling I never thought I would feel again.

Lord Megatron's 1st P.O.V.

I smirked as I held the Daystorm Axe in my servos. This was not a weapon that Pandimala would have known about from her memories. It hadn't been a part of the original timeline and I was glad that it hadn't been. Pandimala wasn't sure if the Prime had gotten the message from the Star Sabre as he had in the original timeline so we had to make sure that the Autobots got the key. We couldn't allow them to grow worried that we would have all of the Omega Keys. I knew Optimus at least was aware of the Omega Keys, given his old work in the Archives. However, I needed to make sure that the Autobots were aware of their presence on Earth.

With the work that Pandimala was putting in at the Autobot base, along with the manipulations we were running against the Autobots, they should join closer as a faction so peace talks may get underway. With every step closer we made in these plans, the more I felt like we could truly achieve a peace that would benefit all of us who were involved in the fighting. My Decepticons were my top priority, and I would make sure that, whatever happened, their best interests would be looked after.

Of course, we might have to step back in how much we just gave to the Autobots. I noticed the scrappy two-wheeler, Zarron, had been studying the fight the entire time we were fighting. He suspected something. But, whether he knew the true extent of our plans, that I wasn't sure of. However, that could come to help us overall. If he realized that we were working towards peace talks, then he might start working with Pandimala in getting the Autobots turned around.

I will admit, making sure that the Autobots got the first Omega Key was difficult for me. I had wanted to just keep the key and make sure that the Decepticons had the sole position of them. I would even take the new mech, Smokescreen, and get the key out of him as well. However, this would give the Autobots clout at the negotiating table to help bolster the fact that their forces were not as united as they wished they were.

This solar, I had gone to the desert expecting to come away with nothing. However, when the drones had removed the key and placed it in the canister, the one called Frost had noticed an opening behind the key. That was where we had found the ax. I had personally carried that out of the pyramid. Frost had been very smooth when he had been attacked by the femme two-wheeler, Arcee. He had to go to the med bay after our retreat, but he had been conscious for the entire fight.

All of the drones in that fight had played their part much better than they would have in the past. The training that they were working on with my officers was making a noticeable difference on the battlefield. Before Starscream and Ransack had exited the pyramid, the drones were able to hold their own against Arcee and Smokescreen until the officers were able to help them.

I needed to inform Pandimala about the boon in our interaction with the first Omega Key. She needed to be kept informed of what our progress was on the ship. She usually couldn't get away for many mid-solar meetings, but I knew that Pandimala would find a way. So, I sent Pandimala a private message to meet me at the bar in the middle of the next solar. As I sent it, though, that strange feeling came to my spark again. I was going to figure out what I was feeling toward my strategist. No matter how long it took, I would discover the answer to this mystery.

Zarron: I think we need to start limiting Pandimala's time with the youngest human.

Wheeljack: Why? The confidence she has been giving him has been helping him a lot.

Zarron: *motions to screen* Because the young human has been looking up sea slugs and decapitating them for the past five cycles because of a conversation they had.

AN: And here is, surprisingly, the next chapter! Guess being sick can be good for my updating. Don't expect this too much once I have to go back to work. But, while I am starting to feel better from covid (except this fragging cough) I seem to have the energy to type out a good bit. So, you get at least this chapter as well! Just in case you all didn't know, I usually don't start the next chapter until I have posted the one I am working on (just in case of last-minute changes). So this was all typed after the last one got updated. Very rarely will I have multiple chapters done and waiting.

Well, here are the next chapter titles!

Chapter 47: First Date

Chapter 48: Reactions

Chapter 49:... (Find out next time! And to let you all know, this will be the end of the fillers that we have been going through. Not that fillers aren't important, but they aren't as action-filled as intense chapters)

And that is all for now folks. Drop a review, or say hi, and I will appreciate it (and will try to respond). Well, until next time, TTYL! *looking up more random facts*