First of all, to the guest who suggested that I finish season 1 before I start "thinking" about a prequel: if motivation strikes, there is no stopping it. Besides, I already have parts of the next twelve chapters already written (all the way up to 'Operation Bumblebee'). Writing down ideas for another story may help give me ideas for this one. Thank you for your input though.

Anyway...

This is the longest chapter yet. Based on the events in 'ShadowZone' (s1e15).

"Optimus, you need to see this," Ratchet called. Optimus joined him at the main console. "I had hoped that my growing expertise on the subject would remain purely academic, but, though faint, this is clearly a dark energon signature and it's moving fast."

A fast-moving blip traveled across the map on the monitor.

"Megatron," said Optimus, optics narrowing.

Liliy was up on her catwalk but she was curious about dark energon so she leaned over the rail to listen better.

"Where'd he find more of the bad stuff?" asked Arcee.

"And what's he gonna do with it?" wondered Bulkhead. "Recruit a new army of the undead?"

"Zombie-cons?" Liliy heard Miko ask excitedly but the Bots did not appear to hear her.

"We cannot rule out the possibility," answered Optimus. "Especially since Megatron seems to be heading to a familiar sight."

"The place where we buried Skyquake," confirmed Bumblebee after the blip stopped moving.

"Megatron has barely emerged from stasis. And it seems he's already making up for lost time. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Ratchet, prepare to roll out," ordered Optimus.

"Me?" Ratchet questioned their leader.

"If we are dealing with dark energon, I may well require your expertise," Optimus explained. He turned to the little blue femme he hadn't addressed yet. "Arcee."

"Bridge operator. Got it." Arcee moved over to the bridge controls and entered the coordinates.

"Go get'em, Bulkhead. Bring the hurt," called Miko from Liliy's chair, now seemingly uninterested as she drew in her notebook.

Bulkhead responded by smashing his fists together with a loud clang. The boys stared suspiciously at Miko from the couch.

"That's not like Miko to not want to go," observed Jack.

"She's definitely up to something," Raf agreed.

Arcee activated the ground bridge. The away team transformed as they entered the portal. The instant they disappeared, Miko tossed aside her notebook and jumped out of the chair. She took off for the stairs knowing that Arcee had to keep the portal open long enough for the team to get through.

"Making a break," said Jack as he jumped up to follow her.

Raf got up to follow as well. Miko jumped down the stairs three at a time. Jack caught up with her and grabbed her arm to stop her just within the bridge tunnel.

"It's not safe," Jack scolded her.

"I am not going to miss my first zombie-con throwdown," cried Miko. She yanked her arm out of his grasp and disappeared into the portal.

"Miko!" Frustrated, Jack took off after her with Raf following.

Liliy watched all this and the oblivious Arcee with growing disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me," she hissed, grabbing her cloak.

The nice thing about hyper speed was that Liliy could walk down walls without falling. She was on the main floor and entering the ground bridge before Arcee finished pushing the lever to close it. Leaping out the other side in just the nick of time, Liliy found herself in a rocky canyon. The Autobots were already walking ahead, unaware of the human children running up the slope behind them to get a better view.

"That's not Megatron." She heard Bulkhead say.

Liliy froze, realizing what she had done. Her thoughts had been about going after the children so she had forgotten that Megatron could be there. She was lucky that he wasn't and she dared not think about what would have happened if he was.

"RISE, SKYQUAKE! RISE!" a vaguely familiar voice shouted from beyond the Autobots.

Liliy hurried up the slope after the children so that she could see too.

"Let's see some fight of the living dead already," cheered Miko, reaching the edge of the ledge.

"Miko, what were you thinking?" Jack demanded, joining her.

"She wasn't," Raf answered, glaring at her.

"None of us really were," added Liliy, coming up behind them.

The children looked up at her in surprise.

"He-ey, Liliy," said Miko sheepishly.

"Jack's right," Liliy continued. "It really isn't safe for you to be out here."

"I know but I really wanted to grab a few pictures since I missed out last time." Miko reached for her phone but it wasn't in her pocket. "My cellphone!" She frantically checked her other pocket and then looked around on the ground. "I must have dropped it back at base!"

A sudden explosion rocked the ledge they were standing on, knocking the children off their feet. They looked up to see the Autobots had taken cover from Starscream. The flyer was covered in dents, scrapes, and weld marks, looking all around like he just came from a fight where he got his aft kicked.

"What happened to him?" Liliy asked, disturbed.

"Megatron probably beat him up as punishment," answered Raf.

"You cannot harm me while dark energon flows thru my veins!" claimed Starscream.

Optimus jumped up from his hiding spot and fired once. His single shot hit true and blasted Starscream's arm clean off at the elbow. The shocked seeker grabbed his amputated limb and ran for cover.

"See? I'm missing all the good stuff." Miko suddenly whirled on Jack and yelled at him. "I can't believe you made me lose my phone!"

That caught the Bots attention.

"H-how is this my fault?" asked Jack.

"Uh, guys," Liliy interrupted. "I think we're in trouble."

They looked up at her and then followed her gaze. The Autobots were staring at them with surprised expressions.

"Yep. We are," agreed Jack.

{Base to Optimus. The kids are missing. Liliy too, I think.} Arcee's voice came thru Prime's comm.

"We have a visual on all of them. Send a ground bridge immediately," he replied.

A bridge opened almost instantly near them. A split second later, another portal opened next to Starscream. The Autobots looked back and forth between them in bewilderment.

"Two?" Ratchet turned to the humans. "You four, into our ground bridge! Now!"

Raf was already moving. Miko looked disappointed. Jack grabbed her arm.

"Come on!" he ordered, pulling her down the slope.

But Liliy stayed put. She stared at the two portals. Starscream disappeared into the one closest to him.

"Two bridges. Too close," she muttered. "Not good. Guys, wait!"

They didn't hear her shout as they entered the vortex. She slipped deftly down the cliff face and ran for the portal. She could see the portals destabilizing even as she entered the Autobots' bridge.

"Scrap! It's not going to hold!" she swore as the portal wavered around her.

The explosion threw her back, knocking her offline.

Ucon was on ground bridge duty on the Nemesis. He received a request from Starscream for an emergency bridge to his location. Entering the coordinates, Ucon activated the ground bridge. A moment later, Starscream came flying through and landed face first on the room floor. He groaned as he started to rise from the floor. A sudden realization struck him.

"My arm!"

He looked around for it for a moment then he looked up. Ucon was staring down at him from his place in front of the controls. Starscream leapt to his peds and jabbed a sharp digit against the eradicon's chest plates.

"Not a word about this!" he ordered, shoving Ucon slightly as he moved past him. "To anyone!"

The door opened and Starscream ran smack into a vehicon.

"Out of my way," the seeker growled, shoving the grounder.

The vehicon stumbled back in surprise and fell on his aft. Starscream stomped off, grumbling. Ucon came out to the hall.

"You ok, HQ-06?" he asked, offering the vehicon a servo.

"Yeah." He accepted the servo and Ucon pulled him upright. "Was it just me or was Starscream missing an arm?"

"He was definitely missing an arm. But try not to spread it around," Ucon replied as they entered the control room.

"I won't. I'd hate to see you get in trouble."

"Thanks for that. Now what can I do for you?"

"I need to go to mine HTZ-16."

"Your wish is my command," Ucon said, typing in the coordinates for that mine.

"You're funny, ZZ-05."

"Hey, someone's got to keep life on this gloomy ship."

"That… wasn't supposed to be a compliment."

"Well, I'm hard to insult." Ucon looked at the closed door. "You better go. AA-00 usually comes around about this time for an inspection."

"Yikes. I really should go then. I'm late as it is."

"I'd hate to see you get in trouble."

"Thanks, ZZ-05."

The vehicon quickly disappeared into the portal and Ucon closed the bridge just before the chamber door opened.

"ECHO!"

Sitting in the rec room with a cube of energon, Echo looked up from the data pad he was reading. Mike appeared in the doorway.

"Echo! Where is Leecher?" The little miner was frantic.

"What's wrong, Mike? You're supposed to be-"

"Where are they?!" Mike practically shouted at him.

"In their office. Why?"

Instead of answering, Mike quickly disappeared. He ran across the main hall to where the offices were. Slamming his servo down on the keypad, he didn't even bother to knock. The door swished open and Leecher looked up at him from their seat behind their desk.

"Mike? What's wrong?" they inquired as Mike approached them.

"Sorry to barge in, Commander, but are you feeling alright? Is everything ok?"

"Yes…" Leecher replied hesitantly. "Why do you ask?"

"Because... " Mike paused and reset his vocalizer, not wanting to admit what he had seen. Leecher stared at him in silence, waiting. Echo showed up outside the open door. The miner seemed to shrink a little. "Because the Madam's spark signal is gone!"

There was a long moment of stunned silence.

"What?!" demanded Echo, entering the office. He grabbed Mike's arm and turned him. "Are you certain, Mike?"

"Do you really think I would be freaking out if I wasn't?" Mike turned back to Leecher, who continued to stare at them without a word. "I know that you and the Madam aren't technically spark-bonded but you have said in the past that if she were to die, so would you. The two of you have some sort of connection. Do you know if she is alive?"

"Yes," Leecher finally replied after another moment of silence. "The connection is still there but I cannot tell what her condition is. It's almost like she is really far away."

"It would be impossible for her to have been bridged off planet. Neither of the factions currently have the capability for space bridging," Echo supplied.

"So she has to be on the planet somewhere. Echo, have Bravo and Pepper run a diagnostic check on the SDS to make sure it hasn't malfunctioned. Mike, we will go back to the comm center and see if we can't find Liliy by some other means."

"Yes sir!"

Liliy groaned as she came back online. Her whole body, even her processor, ached. She wondered what happened and where she was but her optics were not responding. Her audio receptors kicked in just then and she could hear someone moving not far from her.

"You guys ok?" Jack asked, even though he didn't really sound too good himself.

"I think so…" Raf answered, a little uncertain.

"I've felt worse," groaned Miko.

"Liliy? What about you?" Jack inquired.

Liliy lifted her hand and laid it over her eyes. "I'll let you know when my head stops pounding."

The children slowly got to their feet as the dust around them cleared. They could see the Bots laying on the ground not far away. Bulkhead was the first to stir.

"Ugh." He pushed himself up and looked around. "Wha-what just happened?"

The others climbed to their peds as well.

"I can't be certain," started Ratchet. "But if two ground bridges sent to the same coordinates cross streams, the feedback could have created a system overload."

"Could? Hello! More like totally did!" cried Miko at the same time Liliy mumbled, "Ya think."

"The kids made it through, right?" asked Bulkhead.

"Huh?" Raf voiced Liliy's thoughts as she turned her head in their direction, her optics still offline. She realized then that she could not sense the Bots' spark signals even though they were so close.

"What's he talking about?" questioned Jack.

Miko marched closer to the Bots. "Bulkhead, we're right here." She gestured to herself.

Optimus activated his comm. "Arcee, did the humans make it safely back to base?"

{Negative. You don't see them?}

"No sign," said Ratchet.

"What?" demanded Miko moving even closer to her guardian. "No sign?! Ok. Seriously, Bulk- Whoa!" The massive bot stepped toward her and then, when he stepped again, she passed right thru his pede. Miko screamed and stumbled backwards.

"He went right thru you." Jack caught Miko by the shoulders when she bumped into him. Raf reached out and grabbed the edge of Jack's shirt, as startled as the older two. "We're not alive."

"I don't wanna be a ghost." Raf tugged on Jack's shirt.

"Wait! How can we still touch each other?" Jack shared a confused look with Miko.

"Cause you aren't dead yet," Liliy suggested.

They turned to look at the woman who was still laying on the ground.

"Liliy, what are you doing? Are you ok?" Raf came over and knelt beside her.

"I can't see." Her hand was still over her eyes. She removed it. "Is there anything wrong with my eyes that you can see?"

"They are a darker shade of brown than usual." Miko leaned over Raf. "But that's it."

"Guys, the Bots are moving," Jack said. "We should stick close to them."

"Help me up, Jack." Liliy sat up and stuck out her hand. Jack grabbed her hand and braced. Liliy pulled herself up. "Lead the way."

Raf grabbed Liliy's hand from Jack. "I'll do it."

"Thank you, Raf," Liliy said, giving his hand a slight squeeze. He squeezed back.

They moved after the Bots.

"Ratchet," Optimus spoke. "Could the humans have been transported onto the Nemesis instead?"

"Not likely," Ratchet replied. "If Starscream didn't arrive at our base, the most likely explanation is a dislocation. The humans may simply have been bridged to an unintended destination."

The humans stopped.

"Another place… but in the same place," pondered Raf.

"Huh?" asked Jack. "What do you mean?"

"We're probably in a different dimension," explained Raf. "Some kind of alternate reality."

"A shadow zone?" suggested Liliy.

"Exactly," confirmed Raf.

"Nerd alert," Miko quipped.

"Miko."

"What?"

"Look, Skyquake's tomb is empty," Optimus was saying.

"How'd we miss Skyquake rising and shining?" asked Bulkhead.

"It would seem Starscream got what he came for," suggested Ratchet.

"Or not." Liliy turned around. She could hear and feel the vibrations of heavy footfalls even before the bot came into view of the children.

A giant claw reached around the rock. The body followed, giant and lumbering. The optics glowed purple in a blackened faceplates. His paint was faded and his plating patched with black rust. His joints creaked from disuse and he admitted an unintelligible roar. Staring in shock, the humans moved out of his way as he lumbered toward the Bots.

"Zombie!" Miko yelled, running after the bots after regaining her senses.

"Miko, wait!" Liliy wondered what the girl was thinking.

"Guys, look out!" Jack joined Miko.

"Jack!"

"Bulkhead!" Miko yelled again.

"It's right behind you!" Raf let go of Liliy's hand and moved away her.

"Raf!" Liliy was alone now. She heard the children stop and a ground bridge open for the Bots.

The zombie came up behind Bulkhead and swiped a claw at him. It passed right thru the wrecker. Confused, the zombie swiped again but nothing happened.

"Awesome. It can't touch them either," Miko said as the Autobots disappeared in a ground bridge.

Liliy rolled her eyes. The zombie turned toward them with a roar.

"If that thing can't touch the Bots," Jack realized.

"Just like we can't," Miko added.

"Then we're trapped in the Shadow Zone with a Decepticon zombie," Raf observed.

"It would appear that way, yeah," supplied Liliy.

"If we aren't ghosts now, we will be soon," squeaked Miko.

"Then might I suggest we move," called Liliy.

The ground shook as the zombie stomped closer to them, roaring.

"Good idea." Miko turned to run, grabbing Liliy's hand as she passed her.

The boys followed. Jack took the lead and Raf started to lag due to his shorter legs. Suddenly, the younger boy tripped and fell.

"Raf!" Jack went back and grabbed him. "Come on." Jack dragged him over to the rock that Miko and Liliy were hiding behind.

"Jack, my glasses." Raf tugged on Jack's shirt.

Jack peeked around the rock. "Way too dangerous."

"I can't see without 'em," Raf protested.

"What are you, 90?" Miko asked.

"Not helping, Miko," Jack snapped.

"Fine!" She let go of Liliy's hand and moved to the edge of the rock.

"Wait!" Jack cried as Miko bolted from their hiding spot. She ran over and grabbed the glasses. Looking up, she saw that the zombie-con was right there. She dove out of the way to avoid getting stepped on. Then she dodged around its peds and ran back to the others.

"Here you go, gramps." She handed Raf his glasses. "Let's book."

Liliy crouched. "Raf, if you'll be my eyes, I'll be your legs."

"Well…" Raf hesitated.

"Hurry up, Raf. It's coming," Jack urged.

Raf held onto Liliy's shoulders as she lifted him. He gave her some instructions but she mostly listened for Miko and Jack's footfalls and followed them.

"Maybe we could set a trap," suggested Miko as they ran. "Try to crush it."

"With what?" asked Raf. "Nothing around here is solid but us and the ground."

"We can't run forever," Miko shot back. "But maybe we can hide."

They ran until they came to a dead end. The humans stopped to catch their breath.

"Liliy, put me down for a minute."

Liliy knelt and let Raf down. She remained on one knee so that Raf could get up again if he needed to.

"Best thing about zombies," Miko gasped. "They're slow moving." She imitated the bot's walk while hunched over, swinging her arms loosely as she took a couple of slow steps.

Suddenly music filled the air. The kids just kind of looked around in confusion.

"Is that your…?" Liliy started, her head turned toward Jack.

"PHONE!" the children all gasped together.

Jack quickly pulled his phone out and flipped it open. "Hello? Arcee?" His only answer was static. "Nothing!"

"Gee. Imagine that," Miko ranted. "The fourth dimension has lousy cell phone reception."

"But the phone rang. We're getting some sort of signal. Maybe we can-" Liliy's phone beeped in her pocket, interrupting her. She pulled it out and handed it to Raf. "What's it say?"

" 'Signal lost.' " *beep* " 'Tried to call. No answer.' " *beep, beep* " 'SDS functioning normally.' And 'Where are you?' " Raf read aloud each message that popped up.

"Well. Now we know that we can get texts," Liliy said. "Try sending one to Miko's phone. It's back at base so the Bots might see it."

"On it." Jack started typing.

"Do you want me to reply to your texts?" Raf inquired.

"No." Liliy held out her hand and Raf gave her back her phone. "I'll just call them when we get out of here."

"You mean if," Miko corrected, crossing her arms.

"No. When. Because we will." Liliy smiled reassuringly.

"Not if the zombie gets us first!" cried Raf.

Liliy hadn't been paying attention so the zombie was able to catch up to them before she noticed it. It roared as it trudged toward them.

"Time to run again," Miko groaned.

"I sent the message." Jack snapped his phone shut and pocketed it. "Let's hope they see it soon."

"Raf." Liliy reached out and found the boy's shoulder. From there, she was able to scoop him up. He wrapped his arms around her neck as she ran after the older children with surprising accuracy. They ducked under its sweeping claw and slipped between the zombie's peds.

"Deja vu," Miko commented as they ran.

"What's wrong?" Liliy asked, a few steps behind Miko and Jack.

"This looks familiar. I'm pretty sure we just ran one big circle."

Her observation distracted her and Jack and they ran smack into Starscream's amputated arm. They cried out as they bounced off it and fell on their bottoms.

"Liliy, stop!" Raf cried.

She stopped just short of tripping over Miko. "What is it?"

"Starscream's arm. It must've gotten trapped in here during the explosion too," Raf said.

"Well, if it's solid, we can use it," Jack replied.

Liliy decided she wasn't going to be much help since she couldn't see and she told the children as much as she set Raf back on his feet. They agreed with her and told her to wait behind a rock while they moved the arm into a better firing position. She listened to them grunt with exertion as they rolled the appendage around. Briefly tuning them out, she concentrated on trying to bring her optics back online. If she couldn't do it before they were rescued, her cover would have to be blown in order to get them repaired.

The whine of a rocket passing by her and an explosion brought Liliy back to her working senses. She stepped out from her hiding place.

"Did you get him?" she asked, trying to wave away some of the smoke from her face.

The answer hit her hard as a giant servo smacked her across the canyon. She barely registered the children screaming her name before she slammed into the rockface. Her body slipped to the ground, offline for the second time that day.

The children stared in horror at Liliy's limp form. The zombie-con roared in triumph. However, before it could continue, its right arm, damaged by the children's shot, snapped off at the elbow. The zombie-con stared down its detached appendage. The children stared at it too. One of the digits twitched. Then the servo flexed, made a fist, and flipped over. Much faster than the zombie, the servo scrambled toward the children, using its digits to pull itself along.

"Come on! Come on!" Jack yelled as he turned to run.

"But Liliy-" Miko started.

"We have to run or we're zombie chow!" Jack pulled on her arm. Raf was already ahead of them.

They ran away with the servo giving chase and the zombie-con slowly lumbering after them, leaving Liliy where she fell.

Everything hurt worse this time when Liliy finally came online again. But this time her optics actually came online. She blinked and stared at the gray sky. Where was she again? There was the distant roar of the zombie-con. Right. She and the children were stuck in a shadow zone. The children...

"The children!" Liliy sat up quickly despite her body's protests. But she had to hold still for a moment before she could stand up because of the dizziness in her processor. She slowly climbed to her feet. The dizziness finally passed. Slipping out of her cloak, she bent into a runner's crouch. And in the blink of an eye, she was gone.

Liliy caught up with the zombie-con first. She circled it as it lumbered on in slow motion. This was the power of dark energon, raising corpses from the dead to become mindless terrors? The very thought disgusted Liliy. She was going to have to put down this walking corpse. But before she did, she wanted to make sure that the children were alright. She ran past the crawling limb and found them running for their lives. That was good. Since they were not in absolute, immediate danger, Liliy turned and went back to the zombie-con.

Her fingers curled around the rod that slipped out of her forearm. The short rod transformed into a staff as she ran up the bot's body. A slight hum filled the air as the laser blade activated. It was longer than before, long enough to reach all the way thru the bot's neck. Liliy closed off her olfactory system against the smell of burning materials and her audios against the sizzles and popping. She would've closed her eyes but she didn't want to end up falling off. She deactivated the blade as soon as it was clear of the neck. The head slid off, hit the ground with a thud and rolled. The body shuddered and fell over. Liliy jumped clear before it hit the ground.

The children stopped when they came around a bend and spotted Starscream's arm again.

"Oh, come on," Miko groaned. "This place is like one big merry-go-round."

"Look!" Raf pointed at something beyond the appendage. "Isn't that Liliy's cloak?"

Jack ran over and picked it up. "Yeah, it is. Do you think she's ok?"

"I hope so. But we aren't going to be," Miko said, looking back the way they had come.

The zombie-claw came scurrying around the bend. As it raced toward the children, it suddenly stumbled and the arm flipped over the servo. It twitched for a moment and the children thought it might get up again. But it did not.

"Raf! Jack! Miko!" They heard Liliy yelling. She came around the bend and spotted them.

"Liliy!" all three cried together as they ran to her. She dropped to her knees as they reached her and let Raf and Miko hug her. She hugged them back as best she could with one arm.

"I'm glad to see that you three are alright." She smiled at Jack.

"Wait. You can see again?" Miko pulled away to look at her face. So did Raf. They noticed that the red tint had returned.

"Yeah." Liliy shrugged. "After the zombie smacked me into the wall, I could suddenly see again. It's really weird."

"Skyquake!" a voice shouted, causing the children to flinch and turn around. "Your master summons you!"

"What? How did he get into our dimension?" Miko asked, glaring up at the approaching Starscream.

"He didn't." Liliy stood up. "He can't see us."

Suddenly a ground bridge opened between the humans and the seeker.

"Oh, that must be our way out," said Liliy.

"The Autobots saw our text!" cheered Miko.

"But if we go through," Raf said, "we'll run smack into Starscream."

"Would you rather endless roam this canyon?" asked Liliy.

"Not really." Jack approached the portal.

Liliy got up and stood beside him. She took her cloak from him and put it back on. Miko and Raf joined them in front of the portal. "On three we go thru. The Bots can't bridge here to help us until this bridge is closed so we better move. One. Two. Three!"

All four jumped through the portal together. Landing at the seeker's peds, they got up and ran between his legs. Starscream turned as the portal closed.

"Humans? Where did you vermin come from?" he screeched.

They ignored him as they continued to run, but they stopped when another ground bridge opened before them. Optimus stepped out of it, flanked by Arcee and Bulkhead. Starscream saw this and fled in the opposite direction.

"Jack, Miko, Rafael. And you, Liliy. Time to get back to base," Optimus commanded.

The humans nodded solemnly and walked past the Bots to enter the portal. Optimus gazed after Starscream for a moment before following his bots and the humans back to base.

"Look, if you're going to blame anybody," Miko said to Optimus after they all returned, "blame me."

"I'm sorry. Could you repeat that a couple dozen times?" asked Jack.

Miko glared at him.

"Miko," Optimus said. "What you endured has been lesson enough. We're just glad you're all safe." He smiled down at them.

Bulkhead knelt by Miko. "Guess it was a good thing you dropped this." He held out her phone on the tip of one digit. She took it from him. "Too bad you didn't get any pictures though."

"Nah. That's ok. I think after today I pretty much have zombie close-up seared into my brain." She made a frame in front of her face with her fingers.

"Tell me about it," groaned Liliy.

"Liliy, are you ok?" Raf asked. "You're limping."

"The 'adrenaline' is wearing off. Everything hurts. I'm gonna go lay down." She hobbled up the stairs and over to the elevator.

"What happened to her?" asked Arcee.

"She kind of got smacked into the canyon wall by the zombie-con," Jack explained. "The way everything went crunch, I'm surprised she even got up."

"Liliy! Come back down here and let me do a check-up!" Ratchet called up to her as she left the elevator.

"You come up here," she shot back weakly. She lowered herself onto her sleeping bag and was out like a light.

Originally I was going to have Liliy stay at the base and help Ratchet locate the children but then I was rewatching 'Patch' (s2e24) and I came up with a "what if" scenario after Dreadwing learns what became of his brother that led to this current version.

Also in this chapter you got to meet Ucon, the CRC's spy on the Nemesis, again. (He was the eradicon who let Wheeljack escape in chapter 3 'Con Job'.) On the Nemesis, his designation is ZZ-05. This is based off the vehicon organization headcanons of Tumblr user Lizwuzthere. AA-00 belongs to her so they will probably only be mentioned by name but never seen. AA-00 is the eradicon in charge of all the rest of the vehicons. As ZZ-05, Ucon is part of the misc. servant class who do chores on the Nemesis.

And you got to meet Mike. He is one of the CRC's two miners. He is also the backup comm officer.