Lateral Shift

Disclaimer: This is fanfiction and I don't own the rights to any Transformers characters or storylines found within. Author's Note: Loosely based on Transformers Cybertron characters. Chapter two will contain the second installment Vertical Shift and Chapter three will contain the last installment Downshift.

On Earth

Adrianna wasn't at all sure what to expect when the doctor said she was carrying again. With her son Elan who was now ten years old, she had pretty much predicted the possibilities, but this time she wasn't so sure. Elan's late father had been human and the father of the quadruplets that she was carrying was not. Adrianna herself wasn't really human though rumor had it that there was a human a long time ago in the family line somewhere. Adrianna was more of a mix of many species while Aleixo, her current husband, was a half between two species, neither of which was native to Earth.

Weeks of testing both before and after birth on the four quadruplet girls revealed that they could only intake a mineral vitamin mix suspended in a slightly acidic solvent. This solute ignited a chemical reaction that powered their systems. They also took in air to facilitate certain functions, but did not necessarily need to breathe regularly like their half human brother. Each baby girl was identical with dark black hair and wide silver eyes. The pigment of their skin was an outlandishly opaque pale. Their skin consisted of several layers that were reinforced by the minerals they imbibed giving their skin an almost glittery sheen in certain light. She surmised that there would likely be little need for Band-Aids for them in the future. Despite their tough epidermis, the girls were quite cuddly leading Adrianna to believe that they felt more with it then she might have guessed. Adrianna named the girls Cascadia, Charissa, Cecelia and Calandra. Aleixo held them on the day of their birth, but not after. He had adopted Elan when he had married Adrianna and he spent most of his free time with Elan rather than the girls. Adrianna didn't know if he was disappointed that he'd had girls or if it was typical behavior for his species. It was possible that he had the mindset that females should raise females or maybe he just wasn't good with infants.

Six Years Later-Earth

"Don't you think that they should have waited until after our birthday?" asked Cassy from where she was sitting by the window. She didn't move her mouth as she asked the question, but sent it mentally to the three other identical little girls in the room. Three sets of eyes turned her way as she stretched moving the data pad in her hand over her head.

"Don't be selfish Cassy," responded Cally watching the vid screen on the other side of the room. "This situation has nothing to do with you. This divorce has been a long time coming."

"But Cally, they're going to forget our birthday!" protested Cassy.

"We can just celebrate on our own," intoned Char who was lying on the nearby bed reading.

"Char, I want Mother to be there at least," complained Cassy. "You agree with me, right Ceci?"

Ceci nodded her head in agreement and then swiped to another screen on her data pad with her stylus poised and ready.

"She can't. The hearing is set for that date," said Cally. "If we celebrate, we should probably do it earlier. We don't know what the outcome of the split will be."

The girls knew that the divorce had grown ugly and they had seen the effects most prominently on their mother. She was quite bitter about the entire situation and would occasionally have crying fits. At this rate, the girls were sure that what love she had left for their father would eventually turn to hate. Their father had requested the divorce after he fell in love with another female. This had dealt real emotional damage to their mother and the girls tried to support her as much as they could. Currently, all the children lived with their mother, but their brother Elan had taken to spending as much time away from home as possible. He told them it was because he didn't want to deal with the drama. The divorce was mostly finalized with the exception of the custody of the children. The custody hearing was the one that was scheduled on their birthday. The outcome of the court's decision would determine who got custody of the children. This mattered greatly since their father was not human at all. If he gained the custody rights to the children, then he had every right to take them off world. The girls preferred to stay with their mother. Their father had always had a standoffish attitude around them and his lack of presence was the only thing his absences made them feel. Despite their maturity, the girls were turning six years old this year so they had little say in the outcome. Elan was sixteen and also half human, which gave him the right to speak his preferences during the hearing.

The Girls' Birthday-Earth

The day of their sixth birthday arrived and just as they had expected, both parents had forgotten it. There were no gifts waiting and little chance of a celebration. Even Elan had forgotten, so the girls celebrated by themselves. Their mother didn't return home until late that day and Elan was not with her. The girls immediately saw the sadness in their mother's eyes when she returned. She promptly hugged all four of the girls tightly before telling them to sit on the couch. She cleared her throat twice.

"The court has given custody of Elan and Charissa to your father. The rest of you will remain with me," she said.

Charissa and the others exchanged shocked looks.

"How is that possible?" demanded Cally. "Elan isn't even genetically related to father."

Their mother rubbed a hand on her forehead tiredly and sighed. "Your father has taken a new contract with the company he works for to do an exploratory mission. He intends to leave Earth in two weeks. He's convinced Elan that going with him will help him in his future career. Since he adopted Elan when we got married, he is allowed to take him. I've talked to Elan and apparently he wants to go, so there is no reason for me to stand in his way. Aleixo always had a soft spot for him so I'm sure he'll get taken care of." She glanced over at Charissa. "I'm sorry, but that means that Charissa will be going as well," she said as she broke down sobbing. "I'm so sorry Charissa."

Charissa rushed to her and hugged her. "It's okay mama. It's okay."

They all knew why their father had gone after Charissa. Charissa was essentially mother's favorite and the pain he could cause by taking her was immeasurable. She was also quiet, obedient and polite. Her favorite hobby was to go off and read in a quiet corner. If their father was forced to take one of them, then she was the obvious choice. While the girls had been aware of the declining affection between their parents for several years now, they had expected their father to either take all of them or none at all. They'd been trying to stay neutral in the fight between their parents while trying to maintain their mother's sanity. Their only wish was that the four of them remain together, but with this action, they could plainly see that their father no longer cared for their wishes at all if he was willing to split them up.

After a few minutes, Ceci joined the hug as well. Cassy and Cally exchanged glances. Not only was their father splitting the four of them up, but he was also taking their sister off the Earth. They would need to think of a plan.

Early the next morning, Cally transferred a job request to her mother's data pad that was sitting on the counter. Her mother's morning routine never changed so she knew she would see it right away. It was a request for a pediatric medic for both organic and semi-organics that was located at the outpost on Cybertron. Cally knew that if Char was forced to go into space, it was unlikely they would see her again, however, should her mother also move them all the way to Cybertron, there was more of a possibility of meeting since the less explored asteroids and planets stretched between Earth and beyond Cybertron's galaxy. Their mother had originally been interested in the position, but the post only allowed for the relocation of four individuals. Now with no husband and two less children there was no reason she couldn't take the position. Over the next week, the girls' subtlety encouraged their mother to consider the job. Cassy even went so far as to mention the position to a good friend of their mother's. They sneakily listened in as the friend encouraged their mother to start over new and take the job. Ceci finally became impatient, logged onto the company's website and sent her mother's resume in. Not long after, their mother was startled to receive a call offering her the job. Thinking hard on what her friend had advised, she accepted the offer.

One week later they dropped Char off at the spaceport. She didn't say much. She hugged everyone goodbye and made her way inside where her father, his girlfriend and Elan waited. Their mother made it all the way home before she burst into tears. The girls quickly checked the time. By this time, Char's ship should have already taken off.

"Mama, there's something we need to tell you," said Cassy bouncing on her toes.

Her mother looked over blue tears still streaming from her eyes.

"Charissa didn't leave," Cassy said pointing behind her. "She's right here."

Her mother looked at her uncomprehendingly.

"Cally switched with me," said Char. "Father could never tell us apart anyway. I really didn't want to go with him and Cally said that she wouldn't mind exploring."

"We tricked him," said Cassy smirking.

"That was Calandra who left?" their mother asked eyes widening in surprise.

"Yep," the girls chorused.

"She knows where we're going," said Ceci trying to make her mother feel even the smallest bit better. "So I'm sure we'll see her again."

"So come on mama," said Char. "We need to start packing too."

"Cybertron, I wonder what it will be like," said Cassy.

Earth- Spaceport

At the spaceport Cally followed her father and Elan to the ship. The company suits they were forced to wear were a soft gray that nearly matched her father's silver skin tone. A light blue hand attached itself to her father's arm. Cally had only ever met this woman once before. Her father called her Dina as a nickname because her real name was really complicated. She was mostly humanoid looking, but apparently had several sets of tentacles that were currently hidden by the suit. She didn't know what species she was, but she didn't intend to become friends with her. She was after all the reason her mother had gone through so much pain.

"That's them Aleixo," Dina said to her father.

Standing next to the entranceway of the ship were two men. One was clearly human looking and rather old and worn around the edges. The hair he had left on his head was all white and he had large calluses on his hands. This was a man that had worked all his life. The other man looked like a cyborg. Cally couldn't tell if the various pieces of tech or armor he was wearing were physically integrated with him or not, but his right optic zoomed in on them as they approached. The adults ignored Cally while they made introductions. The older man was named Steven and the tech covered one was Aesop. Her father at nearly 11ft toward over them all, while the next closest in height was Dina at around 9 ½ ft. Elan at 7 ½ft beat them in height as well. Cally at age six was already 5ft and the men were taller than her so she guessed that the two were somewhere between 6 and 7ft. The six of them loaded their personal gear into the ship compartments and then started the pre-flight checklist. Twenty minutes later the ship was in the air and headed out of Earth's atmosphere. The company had already preprogrammed their first destination and they would pick up more jobs after this one was completed. Cally scoffed at how easy it was going to be to pretend to be Charissa. No one here had even bothered to ask her name so far.

Cybertron

Cassy, Char and Ceci looked around as they exited the shuttle. They had read all about Cybertron before they came here, but it was still a shock to see a place where everything was made of metal. Metal buildings and metal ground surrounded them. They looked over in awe at the spacebridge that they had passed through to get here. Other ships were passing through on their way somewhere else. Several towering Cybertronians walked by in the distance and the three girls linked hands after they disembarked. They were wearing their helmets as a precaution. While Cybertron did have an atmosphere, it was rather thin and not what they had grown used to on Earth. Considering the tests that were conducted on their makeup when they were born, they most likely could survive on Cybertron without the helmets for quite a time period, but their mother always favored caution. The three were ushered into the metal building in front of them by their mother and another suited person. In the airlock they removed their helmets. Their guide was a dark green alien with purple ridges on her head. She introduced herself as AV. She was the person in charge of personnel for the facility. She scanned each of them with a handheld device and explained that the doors would open for them based on their energy signature. She quickly gave them a tour of the facilities that included their rooms and other communal rooms that they had access to. Finally, she took their mother to get settled into her new position in the infirmary while the girls returned to their room. Their luggage was already there, but otherwise the room was small and bare. It had four bunk beds, two small desks and a small closet, but the gray walls were devoid of any decoration. Their mother had her own separate room next door. The girls began to unpack the little luggage they'd been allowed to bring.

"Help me with this," said Cassy climbing onto one of the upper bunks. She pushed the mattress from the bunk over the railing.

"What are you doing?" asked Ceci.

"I'm putting this mattress on top of the one below so we can use the top bunk as extra storage," said Cassy. Of course she also intended to use the bunk with the extra mattress for herself. Ceci lent a hand, but Char just sat on her bed and sorted through her stuff.

After everything was in place, the girls headed down the hall to check-in with their educational instructor whom was stationed in the library. Well they called it a library according to the sign, but there weren't any books like you'd still occasionally find on Earth. Here everything was digitized and you could either access it through the monitors in the room or through the data pads they provided. The door slid open and the girls entered. Suddenly a vid screen turned on and a verbal welcome in a female voice came from the screen. "Charissa, Cecelia and Cascadia welcome to Cybertron." Their mother had managed to change Callandra's information to Charissa's by telling the company that they'd made a mistake. Unless someone purposely investigated, she wasn't worried that they'd realize that she had the child she didn't have custody rights for. The screen beeped. "I will be your instructor for all matters that you do not comprehend. Please call for Niva on any available vid screen if you need assistance. I already have the data downloaded from your learning level on Earth. You three were on level 25 of a 52 system. On Cybertron, based on the large range of species that currently inhabit the outpost, the level range has increased to 297. With your current marks, you are currently at level 17 for our range."

The girls made faces at that. They had always prided themselves on being nearly halfway through Earth's learning modules at the young age of six. A normal human child on Earth at the age of six would still be on level 5 or maybe 9 if they were advanced. The comparison between them and human children wasn't really fair, but it had always been an ego booster to know that they were so far ahead of most of the kids on Earth. Now they'd been summarily shifted to a lower level just because they had arrived here and that didn't sit too well with them. They didn't like the fact that the amount of information that Cybertronians and other aliens could contain in their processors was possibly out of their reach.

"The beginning portion of module 18 is currently loaded on your data pad and is due in five solar cycles," said Niva. "Should you require assistance, once again, please call for Niva on any available vid screen."

The girls quickly left the library.

"This bites," said Cassy. "Our first day here and we're already thrown back into school work."

"We should probably get started on it," said Char. "I've no idea if this is new or review material."

"Or we could go check out the gardens," said Ceci.

The three girls immediately headed to the gardens without argument. They had only been allowed to stick their heads in before during the tour. The door slid open and they entered. The gardens consisted of wide-open walkways with giant transparent domes centered at certain points throughout the gigantic rooms. Inside the domes, alien foliage that the girls had never seen before thrived in its contained environment. One dome contained nothing but crystal formations. The crystals were in some type of rocky soil and appeared to have been grown. Another dome was full of water and miniscule animals that swarmed around the long leafy water plants. There was even one dome that looked like it contained plants from Earth or something close to it. The girls headed into another room that had no lights on save the lights that illuminated the path. In this room were several displays that required the darkness. Glowing crystals and algae were grouped together with naturally luminescent plants. The girls were too immersed in the displays to see the glowing blue optics that followed their movements.

As the girls headed back into the lighted area of the garden, they heard heavy footsteps behind them and they turned back in alarm. They looked up and then further up at the mostly green Cybertronian with silver and black accents. The Cybertronian regarded them with curious bright blue optics. The girls had never been this close to a Cybertronian before so they stared back in wonder. Slowly the Cybertronian knelt down on one knee in order to be closer to them.

"It's unusual for anyone to be in here right now," he said. "Most organics are in recharge at this time. What are you three doing in here?"

"We just arrived from Earth," said Ceci. "So we were checking out the common areas."

"Who are you?" asked Cassy.

"My designation is Hound," he replied.

"That's Cassy, that's Char and everyone calls me Ceci," said Ceci gesturing to the other girls. "We're triplets so it's okay if you can't tell us apart."

The girls had decided amongst themselves to call themselves triplets so they didn't have to repeatedly explain where their fourth sister was. They also didn't want the mention of their fourth sibling to get back to their mother because it would only upset her.

"You came from Earth," said Hound nodding. "I was stationed on Earth for a long time, but now I care for the bio-domes on Cybertron. Are you human?"

"No, we're not," said Char. "Though there may have been a human in the genetic line a long time ago according to mother. We were born on Earth though."

"Yea, we're on the less organic side of the spectrum," said Ceci.

"So you take care of the domes," said Cassy interested. "Can we watch? We won't get in the way."

All three girls gave him a wide-eyed pleading look and Hound rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I don't see how that would be a problem, so sure," said Hound. He resumed standing and the girls followed after.

On Asteroid 7645903ar*

So far things had gone according to plan. They had already landed on five different asteroids, but only one had yielded anything they could salvage for the company. Cally stayed out of the way and was largely ignored. The only hiccup so far was in the food supply that the company had packed for Cally. Instead of the vitamin and mineral powder that was usually dissolved into the supplied solvent, the company had sent solid bars instead of powder and no solvent at all. The girls had been on a liquid diet from the moment they were born. Their systems weren't made to easily break down solids. So Cally spent much of her time breaking down the bars into powder form and then finding and purifying some type of liquid on the asteroids. She then borrowed the synthesizer in order to create a solvent. She had diplomatically asked Dina who was in charge of food supplies to rectify the situation the next time they reported to the company at the next port. Dina had only stated that everyone had to make due and that life was never easy. Cally didn't appreciate the life lesson where it involved a life function such as fuel, but she couldn't anger Dina for fear that she might cut her off entirely. She had brought the issue to her father as well and he had directed her back to Dina so there was no help there.

With her father preoccupied with Dina and his work, Steven had taken her brother Elan under his wing and was teaching him the trade so Cally was left on her own. The only salvation Cally found was in the form of the weekly chats with her sisters. So far despite the distance, the mental link was strong and clear. She enjoyed hearing about the beings they were meeting on Cybertron. Only her mother had an inkling that the girls had a mental bond and in the past she had dismissed it as a trick the girls were playing.

Cally wanted to collect souvenirs for her sisters, but Dina had once again interfered and denied her bringing anything extra on board that wasn't for the company. She cited weight restrictions and fuel concerns. Cally got around that rule by using another ability that not even her mother knew about. Ceci called it teleportation and Cassy called it transference, but essentially by locating her sisters by their link, she could send them the souvenirs instantly as if by teleportation. The object near her would disappear and reappear near her sisters. All four of them had practiced it on Earth until they could do it in their sleep. Cally had been the most successful and it wasn't just limited to the location of her sisters. She could also send large objects and even animals from one spot to another as long as she'd previously been in that spot at some time. She had even once previously sent herself from outside the house to inside her bedroom while her sisters were all there. Her sisters who could only send small objects at the time freaked out and the teleportation experiments stopped for a while. Right now though she was finding the ability invaluable. Every time they stopped, she would send a souvenir to the others. Of course she made sure they weren't harmful before she sent them. Her sisters told her that they kept the growing collection in a box on the empty bunk that would have been hers.

Even though she was not being paid to scavenge for the company, she was sent out with a scanner and told to look anyway. As she was the smallest, it was likely that she could fit into places that the others couldn't. By exploring the area when they landed, she could also set up jump points that she could use to teleport back near the ship in case she wandered too far. She wouldn't put it past the majority of the crew to leave her if she wasn't there at the specified time. It was also a precaution in case they came across a sentient threat.

Cybertron

It didn't take long for the girls to meet the other children that resided at the outpost. Some of the children they were only allowed to see in passing, as some were ambassador's children. Those were either fiercely protected or of a pure blood species that wouldn't allow their children to associate with what they called mixed spawn. The girls didn't take it to heart. There were beings like that everywhere even on Earth. The area they had previously lived in on Earth had been an area set aside for non-native inhabitants. It was an area where many different looking beings that couldn't blend in with the dominant human population lived. Though they resembled humans more than many of their counterparts, except their height, their mother had preferred them to live in an area where they weren't constantly asked questions about what they were. It was safer as well because the community looked out for each other on a planet where the abduction and black market sale of children human or otherwise was still a problem.

When they weren't studying, exploring, or hanging out with Hound, they would interact with several other children. Ran, Cheri and Dart were three humans stationed aboard with their parents. Ran and Dart were around ten and Cheri was seventeen. Cheri was the person to go to if you wanted to hear gossip about the adults in the outpost. She seemed to know a lot about the decisions the ambassadors were reaching as well. Ran was interested in alien plant life so she would often hang around with them when they were with Hound. Dart was friends with the mini-con, Kickback. The girls had met him, but hadn't spent a lot of time with him as the two were usually off getting into mischief somewhere. Hi-Lou was a reptilian alien. He was about twenty-two, but since adulthood for his species was forty-five, he was only halfway there. He tended to be a loner, but would speak if spoken too. His accent was thick though so the girls had to listen closely. There was a water-based child too that was always enclosed in a floating sphere of water. The girls called her Welly since her name was really complicated. She was a loose definition of the word mermaid since she didn't have the upper portion of a human. Still she looked more humanoid than a fish. The girls loved hanging out with her because her room was filled with globe after globe of curious things. Welly seemed to appreciate the attention as well. Welly never told them her age, but the girls knew that they were the youngest here. They encountered problems with the last three children they met on base. Mita and Siko were twin boys that were more metal than organic. They were both fifteen and seemed to get a kick out of verbally abusing the other children on base. Their leader was Eto who was a seventeen-year-old half human boy. Eto's mother was on Earth while his father was the Security Director on the base. Eto thought because of his father's position that he could get away with anything. The other children tended to avoid the trio when they showed up. The twins would generally leave them alone unless Eto was with them. After hearing about them, Cally told her sisters to stay together if they were around the three troublemakers, but that wasn't always possible so sometimes one of the girls would be forced to hide if they heard them coming.

"It's only words," Char mentally sent to Cally. "I don't want to cause trouble for mother."

"Even if you ignore them, over time they start to hurt," Cally returned.

Char was the quiet sister so Cally knew that Char's disposition only made her a bigger target. Cally was currently on a frozen planet and she pushed herself forward into a cave to get out of the snowstorm that had suddenly blown in. With limited visibility, Cally knew that the ship wouldn't be able to take off so she was fine for the time being. The thermal regulating suits kept out the worst of the cold, but she could still feel it. Her scanner beeped and Cally looked down to see that it was sensing the crystals she was looking for. She moved cautiously across the frozen ground and around the ice covered stalagmites toward the back of the cave. Amidst the icicles she found small chunks of transparent green crystal. She used the laser cutter to retrieve her sample and transferred them to the collection bag. She also teleported a pretty chunk of crystal to her sisters after she confirmed that Ceci was in their room. "Ceci, I need you to talk to Cheri about Eto's father," sent Cally through their link.

"Cheri knows everything. What are you looking for?" asked Ceci.

"Anything we can use against him," said Cally. "Let me know what you find out." Cally teleported back right next to the ship. No one would be able to see her in the snowstorm. She entered and handed her spoils to Aesop so he could examine them and hung her scanner on the charger before heading to her room. It was more like a closet than a room, but at least she could lie down and thaw. A knock on her door happened shortly after. Aesop was there when she opened the door.

"No one else is back yet, but with what you recovered, we should be good to go," he said. "You're useful kid. I'll give you that, but you're also our weak link. Take this." He handed her a small data chip that she could plug into her data pad. "Keep it. It's black market and it's got all the weak points of tons of different species on it. Don't tell anyone you got it from me. Use it, it might save you one of these days."

Four hours later the storm must have broken because Cally could hear the thrusters activating. They landed on the next planet not long after, but were restricted from investigating until dawn broke.

Cally had several more hours before she was supposed to get up when something startled her from her sleep. She could feel the sharp sting of fear flood over the link and she pinpointed it down to Char. She didn't even think. One moment she was in the ship and the next she teleported to her sister. Her room on the ship had been darker than the darkened hallway she now stood in so her eyes were already adjusted to the lack of light. Ahead of her, a humanoid boy was dragging Char down the hall by her arm. Char was resisting and trying to wrench her arm from his grip. Cally didn't even think she just reacted. She charged the boy from behind and landed a kick to his crotch. As he sank to the floor groaning in pain, she kicked him again in the side. "Touch her again and you'll get much worse," spat Cally threateningly. Cally quickly turned and pulled Char toward her and a moment later the two were standing in the girls' room. Cally gently pushed Char toward her other two sisters who were surprised to see her standing there. "Take care of her and let me know what happens," said Cally. "I have to return before I'm missed." With that she transported back to the ship.

Planet Delazis

After all the cold, Cally was relieved to find that they'd landed on a tropical world or the tropics of one. Cally relished the feeling of the heat and humidity. Unfortunately, it was also a world of dense jungle that would be difficult to walk through. There were all sorts of curious creatures here. Cally watched as a white puffball with legs crawled along the ground and into a burrow. As cute as it was, she couldn't just send it to her sisters, so she took a photo instead. She wound her way around and up a sprawling tree and poked her head through the top of the canopy, but all she could see was the tops of the massive trees that were spread throughout in the distance. The trees here were not like Earth's mostly green trees, but were trees of different vibrant colors. She climbed back down and made her way further into the jungle. Three days had been allotted for this location so she could take her time exploring. In a rare moment of compassion, Steven had let her borrow one of the data pads that listed the species found here. Cally tilted her head to the side when she thought she heard her name. It came again and she realized it was Ceci calling her through the link. "How's Char?" she asked.

"Char will be fine," said Ceci. "We think Eto was just trying to scare her. At least we hope that was his intention. The twin duo was responsible for shutting off the lights in the hall. Lately Char's been staying in the room and neither Cassy nor myself will go out alone. Eto hasn't reported anything yet about being beat up, but we doubt that will last. We might be forced to leave over this which is too bad because we kind of like it here."

"I'll try to fix the situation," said Cally. "What information did you get for me?"

"I've got lots of juicy gossip for you from Cheri," Ceci replied. After passing over what she'd learned she asked, "What are you going to do?"

"No worries I have a plan," said Cally. After teleporting to Cybertron, Cally knew that Earth wouldn't be a problem. She set down everything unnecessary and immediately teleported herself to Earth. She arrived back at her favorite tree and looked around to see if she'd been caught, but no one was there. Right now it was night on this part of the Earth. She then teleported herself into the community center and sat down at one of the computer terminals. It took her about twenty-five minutes to compose the letter. She added the emblem that all the official correspondences from Cybertron usually contained. Ceci had previously sent her an electronic copy of it at her request. She then put in the electronic address for Eto's mother here on Earth and sent it. Eto's mother would get quite the surprise in the morning.

Cally then teleported to right outside an automated convenience store and used what little credits she had on her card to purchase solvent and food powder. The box of supplies rolled out of the building and the balance on her card now read empty. It wasn't surprising. Their mother had occasionally given them a credit for completing a chore, but it hadn't happened often. The food she'd procured would only last her about a month, but it would improve her situation for the short term. She teleported back to the ship and hid the box in her room. She didn't want to answer unnecessary questions if Dina should happen to see it.

Cybertron

The girls woke the following day to gossip that spread faster than wildfire. Apparently Eto was being sent back to Earth that very day because his irate mother was demanding it. Cheri claimed that one of her technician friends had been in the room this morning when Eto's mother had lit into her husband about an affair with another officer. She claimed she had received an official letter from Cybertron stating that his actions were negatively affecting his son. There was a claim included that Eto had been seen leaving the quarters of a female technician twice his age. His mother had ripped into him over the vid screen as well when he tried to deny it. So Eto was now currently in his room packing for the return trip to Earth so he could once again be under his mother's watchful eye. There was also a rumor that the Security Director would soon be replaced. Whether he was headed back to Earth or not was debatable though.

All three girls sat in their room and giggled.

"According to Cheri, the Security Director was having an affair, but Cally made the whole thing about Eto seeing someone up," said Ceci.

"Serves him right for messing with us," said Cassy smirking. "Hopefully the next security director won't have kids."

Char didn't say anything, but she smiled relieved that Eto was finally going to be gone. With him gone, Mita and Siko would probably revert to the occasional insult in passing.

The girls headed to the garden to hang out with Ran and Hound. Hound was currently only monitoring the domes and not doing any physical work. When the girls walked in, they looked up to see Ran sitting on Hound's shoulder. Hound moved her to the floor so she could talk to the girls.

"Did you hear about Eto?" asked Ran.

"Serves him right," said Cassy. "He tried to mess with Char recently, but we stopped him."

"Are you all right Char? He didn't hurt you, did he?" asked Hound from above.

Char shook her head no.

"He just scared her," said Cassy huffing. "Males, you can't trust them at all."

"You're not included in that Hound," said Ceci diplomatically.

"Of course he isn't," said Ran. "And they prefer the term mechs when it comes to Cybertronians."

"Anyway, rumor has it that you're getting a new dome," said Ceci to Hound. "Any idea what's going to be in it?"

The girls had started walking ahead down the path, but Ran would occasionally have a clumsy streak and she suddenly tripped over her own feet. This caused her to fall sideways into Char who was caught off guard by the sudden weight on her side. She started to fall over as well when one of Hound's enormous hands closed around them preventing them from going down. Char was surprised to feel the warm metal around her because none of the girls had been in direct contact with Hound with the exception of Ran. Hound picked both of them up bringing them toward his face as he cradled them in his hands.

"We're okay!" piped up Ran. "Sorry about that Char."

Suddenly something beeped.

"Ah, that's me," said Ran looking at her wrist display. "I've got to go meet my Dad."

Hound placed Ran down on the floor by the door and she waved as she walked out. Char remained sitting in his hand.

"I wasn't aware that the three of you produced an EM field," said Hound looking at Char curiously.

"What's that?" called Cassy from the floor.

Hound stooped and picked up the other two girls in order to confirm it. "All three of you have it," he said. "All living things have a biofield. It's like the energy that encompasses an organism. For some species like my own, we produce an electromagnetic field, which is another form of communication for us. By reading someone's EM field or signature, we can tell each other apart and read someone's mood. I didn't detect it before, but now that I'm holding you, I can feel your surprise and confusion."

"So we're projecting our feelings out where everyone can see?" asked Cassy frowning. "That's embarrassing."

"No, it looks like it can only be read if someone is in direct contact with you," said Hound. "I'll try sending something to you. Let me know if you can feel it." Though he didn't have a bond with them, Hound tried to send them feelings of calm and safety through his EM field. The girls seemed to visibly relax in his hands.

"I feel really calm," said Ceci.

"Me too," said Char and Cassy simultaneously.

"So you can receive it," said Hound placing the girls back on the ground. "How about now?"

"Nope nothing," said Cassy. The other two agreed.

"It seems you need to be in contact for it to happen," said Hound.

"I guess that explains how we're able to pick up mother's emotions so easily just by hugging her," said Char. "She's not like us though because we always had to tell her if something was wrong."

Next day-Cybertron

"We got an invitation to meet another mech," said Ceci to the others. "I guess Hound was talking to the others about us and he was interested. It's at meeting hall four today in about three hours. His name is Perceptor. Will you girls come with me?"

Cassy gave the okay symbol and Char simply nodded her head. Just then, a huge clump of yellow crystal clunked into the middle of the floor startling the three girls. Several tinier pieces lay scattered around it.

"That's a huge chunk of crystal," said Cassy. "Why'd she send us something so big?"

"Maybe Cally couldn't break off a smaller chunk," said Char.

"Help me move this to the table," said Cassy. The girls managed to move the crystals to the desk. It was a group of large yellow crystals that gave off a soft yellow glow.

"I guess we have a nightlight now," said Ceci. "It's good that mother doesn't come in here or she'd have a lot of questions."

Cassy and Char nodded their heads in agreement.

Planet Delazis

Cally walked into the ravine with a respirator covering her mouth and a pair of goggles on. It was nearly hazy inside with the amount of spores being released from the nearby plants. According to the guide, they wouldn't hurt you unless you inhaled them. Numerous plants grew on both sides of the ravine with large sprouting flowers and strange looking seedpods poking out here and there. Interspersed crystal formations peered out between the gaps in the foliage. Looking up at the sky from the bottom of the ravine was like looking at a kaleidoscope of colors caused by the reflecting light on the spore mist. From further in, Cally could hear water falling in the distance and she allowed her hearing to lead her. She walked through a short tunnel that had been naturally carved into the rock. On the other side was a lake pool formed by the waterfall above. The excess water from the pool continued on into a riverbed. It was in the riverbed that Cally found the mineral that they were looking for.

Cybertron

When the girls arrived at the meeting hall, Perceptor was already there and he wasn't alone. The meeting halls had an upper level with a railing for the smaller constituents and a lower floor level for the larger ones. The upper level allowed the girls to converse with even the tallest Cybertronian mostly eye to eye. Perceptor was a red and blue mech with white accents. He had what looked like a large telescope attached vertically to his back. At least that's what the girls thought it was. Rumor had it that the Cybertronians kept their weapons in subspace when they were visiting the outpost. The other mech was white and silver with green and red accents. He had two panels on either side of his head that lit up as they approached. Ceci walked straight up to the railing, but the other two girls hung back slightly.

"How extraordinary," said Perceptor. "Hound was correct. They are virtually identical."

"Hi," said Ceci gesturing. "I'm Ceci, that's Cassy and that's Char. You must be Perceptor, but who are you?" she asked the other mech.

"Apologies, my designation is Wheeljack," said the mech. "I'm a colleague of Perceptor's and I just decided to tag along."

"I took the liberty of looking into your medical files and I don't believe you three match any known species currently recorded," said Perceptor.

The girls raised their eyebrows at the invasion of privacy, but let it pass.

"Our father is a half between two species and our mother isn't really dominant for any of the species that she came from," said Char speaking up. "I guess were a new mix. Though we do have a half brother who is also half human."

"It must have been difficult for your creators to ascertain your everyday requirements after you were created," said Perceptor.

"They ran a lot of tests in the beginning," said Cassy. "If those details aren't in our files, then they're probably in the files back on Earth." Cassy and Char exchanged a look. They were starting to feel like a science experiment.

"Well, we may look alike, but we all have different personalities," said Ceci trying to change the subject.

"Do you mind if I run a scan on you?" asked Perceptor. "It'll be quick and I can perform one right now."

"I guess," said Ceci.

All three girls shivered as a tingly sensation went over their bodies. Ceci half turned to look at Cassy behind her who was frowning.

"Hound mentioned your EM field, but do you also have a bond?" asked Wheeljack noticing their actions.

"A bond?" asked Char.

"It's common for Cybertronians to have bonds," said Wheeljack. "For example, we have a set of twins that can speak to each other over their bond. It's not like our internal communication system either. It's strictly between those two." The startled looks on the girls' faces were all the answer he needed. "That's fantastic," stated Wheeljack. "I only know of a few species that have bonds like us. There are some that are telepathic, but that tends to cover the entire species so you cannot really classify that as a bond. The organic type of bonding is more like imprinting and similar but not quite the same as a bond."

"It's interesting. The data from the scan indicates that their systems are dissimilar to organic systems," said Perceptor breaking in. "For example, the mineral content in their outer layers makes them far more resistant to outside forces than a typical organic. They don't have a heart or a spark and their entire systems are powered by atomic sized reactions. There is practically no comparison to any other species I know. I can send you the data if you'd like."

After a short discussion over the link with the other two, Cassy broke into their ruminations. "Excuse me," she said. "We want to know if you can keep the bond issue to yourself?"

Both Perceptor and Wheeljack turned their attention back to the girls.

"Why would you keep it a secret?" asked Wheeljack.

"We tried to tell our mother when we were younger," said Ceci.

"But she thought we were playing a game even when we swore it was true," finished Cassy.

"If we brought the facts to her, perhaps we could convince her," said Perceptor.

"As much as we'd appreciate that, the answer is no," said Char. "Our mother went through a lot of emotional stress not too long ago and she needs time to recover. Everything needs to be as normal as possible for her right now."

"Any changes no matter how small could hurt her recovery," said Ceci. "So you won't tell her, will you?"

"We will not," said Perceptor and Wheeljack nodded his head in agreement.

A soft beeping noise sounded throughout the room indicating that there were only ten minutes left for the room reservation. The girls headed out after promising to see the two mechs again.

"They appear to be highly intelligent and emotionally mature beings for ones so young," said Perceptor. "It must be from the resulting mix of genetics from which they were derived. Their file indicates that they are only six years old."

"They're only sparklings then," said Wheeljack. "Sparklings that are protecting their carrier from something. It will be most interesting to talk to them again."

Listil

Listil was a bustling trade spaceport. All sorts of aliens bartered and conducted transactions there. It was also a refueling stop for them. There was a company office there so they could drop off cargo and pickup supplies. While the crew headed to the company office, Cally left the ship to explore. She had her translation device turned on and she wandered through the stalls and corridors looking at everything. She'd only been walking for fifteen minutes when she was suddenly grabbed. Knowing that she could simply teleport away, she didn't scream or offer any resistance and her captors easily dropped her into a large shipping container. The container had several other small boxes of supplies in it. Outside she could hear an alien dialect and she listened closely to the translation.

"Such a small thing, but it might sell for big credits," said one. "It's pretty docile too. It didn't even struggle when I picked it up."

"Stupid of its owner to just let it walk around on its own," another voice chimed in.

Cally quickly turned on the flashlight that was hooked to her suit and looked through the supplies below her. When she felt the container start to shift, she grabbed two boxes and teleported back to her room on the ship. She could only imagine the surprised looks on her captor's faces when they realized she was missing and missing with two boxes of their supplies. She laughed at how they'd forever wonder how she managed to escape. The two boxes she'd swiped contained small metal balls with an alien symbol on them. She managed to find a match on her data pad. They were foam pellets. By pressing and throwing one of these balls, foam would be expelled, but these weren't like the ones used to put out fires. These particular ones were hardening foam. They could temporarily seal a hole in the hull of a ship or according to Aesop's chip be used against many species to immobilize them for a time period. Cally stored one box in her room and sent the other box to the girls with very detailed instructions.

Cybertron

Life progressed for the girls. Perceptor and Wheeljack ran some simple tests to confirm how much control they had over their EM field. If they were concentrating, the girls could send specific emotions to the mechs as long as they were in close proximity to them, but most of the time their emotions leaked over subconsciously. They also determined that the hair on the girls' heads was like an extrasensory net. Perceptor found that he could extend the range of his own EM field by touching a single strand of their hair. The girls naturally relayed this information to Cally.

Eventually, the mechs became busy with other projects so the girls didn't see them very often after that. They still hung out with Hound and the other children though. They also unexpectedly met Optimus Prime. It was during a rare escape from the outpost courtesy of Dart and Kickback. It had taken Dart a while to convince them to go, but finally the girls agreed. The five of them managed to get about six miles away from the outpost following the paths that Kickback took. He seemed to know all the tunnels and places that they could safely walk that would keep them from getting underfoot of the Cybertronians that walked and drove around them. The girls got to see more of Cybertron this way instead of just the outpost. All good things must end and their trip came to an abrupt halt when the grate was pulled from one of the vents on their corridor. A large hand appeared before them and scooped them up. The mech that held them was ridiculously tall. His colors were primarily red, blue and silver. Kickback immediately averted his optics and even though he was wearing his spacesuit, Dart rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Hello sir," said Dart.

"Dart, Kickback, if it isn't bad enough that you two get into mischief out here, now you're bringing others?" Optimus Prime said with a small smile. The mech's optics swept to the three girls. "I have heard of you from Hound, but we have not met. My designation is Optimus Prime."

"I'm Cassy, that's Char and that's Ceci," said Cassy gesturing.

"I believe your mother is the pediatric medic Adrianna," he said.

The girls nodded.

"Does she know you're out here?" he asked. He took their silence as confirmation to the negative. He could feel their initial surprise being replaced by worry through their EM fields. "Dart, I know that your parents are fine with you leaving the outpost as long as Kickback is with you, however, even if they are taller than you, the girls are much younger. I would advise against bringing anyone else out with you in the future."

"Yes, sir," said Dart. "It won't happen again."

"To be fair," Ceci started. "This is the first time we've ever left the outpost. We were really curious about what was outside. Are we going to be in trouble?"

"No, but I'll have to bring you three back," said Optimus setting Dart and Kickback back in the vent.

"Oh," said Ceci.

Optimus could feel the disappointment flood through their EM field.

"How about I take the scenic route back," he stated.

"Really?" chorused the girls. Excitement flooded their EM field.

"Of course," he replied smiling.

"Thank you very much," they replied.

Cybertron

The girls' 7th birthday arrived and Cally sent her sisters snow for their birthday present. After stating her intention, the girls had gone into the gardens and entered one of the empty domes. It had a drainage system already installed so it was perfect for their use. When they were ready, Cally teleported to a frozen planet and sent several gales of snowflake-laden air into the dome. The girls stretched their hands up as snowflakes floated down on them. Cally also rolled several large snowballs and sent those as well. She then teleported back to the warmth of her bed.

"Thank you," floated over the bond.

"Happy birthday," she sent back. Her sisters didn't have anything to send her except for the stories of the people they met, but that was all she needed.

Unbeknownst to the girls, Hound had seen them playing in the dome and try as he may after examining the dome, he couldn't figure out how the snow had appeared.

Dias

Dias was a godforsaken spaceport in the middle of nowhere. The alien inhabitants found there were lean and dangerous. Not much of value could be found and if you had something of value, you had to hold onto it dearly or the pickpockets and swindlers would get it. The company office there had bulky bodyguards. They were able to drop off the cargo safely, but there wasn't much available to restock the ship and there was none of what Cally needed in terms of her specialized food. She was in a dilemma. The remaining food from both her secret stash and the company wouldn't last much more than a week and lately she had been much hungrier than before. While she could teleport to Earth, she didn't have any credits with which to purchase food. She couldn't resort to stealing because she had never been inside the secure distribution centers so she couldn't teleport there. Cally didn't like to worry them, but she had no choice but to ask her sisters for help. That's when she discovered that her sisters had a similar dilemma. They of course were provided what they needed by their mother's company, but they were going through a growth spurt according to their mother and they needed more. Their mother had requested for additional food supplies for them, but the company had yet to answer.

"You told me that Wheeljack and Perceptor were scientists, right?" asked Cally.

"That's right," said Char.

"Yea, made me feel like a science experiment," added Cassy.

"Bring them a sample of the food and ask if they can recreate it," said Cally. "If the company wants what we're collecting so badly, then there's bound to be something I sent you that would be of value to them. If there isn't, then maybe I can find something out here. Please hurry though. I've only got a week left."

Cybertron

Hound was surprised when the girls purposely hunted him down. Normally, they would just run across him in the gardens, but this time they tracked him down in the maintenance hanger where he was collecting some tools.

"Hound," called out Ceci in greeting.

"What are the three of you doing in here?" he asked.

"We need to get in contact with Wheeljack or Perceptor," said Ceci.

"And we can't contact anyone outside the outpost on our own," said Cassy.

"It's urgent," said Char.

"What's wrong?" asked Hound.

"We need them to replicate this by the end of the week," said Char holding up a bottle of their daily solute. "In quantity."

"We can give them anything on this list for the job," said Cassy hefting the data pad.

"What is this exactly?" asked Hound collecting the bottle and data pad.

"It's our food source," explained Char. "Sometimes they add flavors, but at this point we'll accept the flavorless kind."

Hound glanced at them sharply. "Are you not getting your nourishment?"

"No, we are," reassured Ceci. "But it's not enough. Mother says we're going through a growth spurt and we need more, but the company hasn't sent any. We're not sure if they're going to."

"I'm tired of feeling like I have no energy anymore," said Cassy sighing.

Hound placed the bottle and data pad in his subspace. "I'll head there now," he said. "I wouldn't want you to go hungry."

"Thank you, Hound," the girls chorused with brilliant smiles.

Hound left immediately.

"That's what I love about Hound," said Cassy. "Dropped whatever he was doing just for us."

"We're also lucky that Char was cataloguing the souvenirs we got from Cally," said Ceci. "Good job Char."

"Let's hope Perceptor or Wheeljack are willing to deal," said Char.

The girls knew how easy it was to distract the scientists and hoped that they'd follow through on the order otherwise Cally was sunk.

Lab-Cybertron

Hound had a stroke of luck and managed to catch both Wheeljack and Perceptor together. He explained the situation and they expressed their concern for the girls, but their expressions changed as they perused the data pad.

"Where could they have possibly obtained this?" asked Wheeljack pointing to something on the list. "They aren't ambassadors and their carrier isn't rich enough to provide them with the basic fuel they need so there is no way they should have access to half of the materials listed on here unless someone was backing them. If that was the case, why couldn't that person provide them with fuel?"

"It's quite perplexing," said Perceptor. "However, I desire to examine several of the crystals on the list. They might be acceptable for a project I was trying to finish."

"Let's make the solute for the girls first and then we'll question them about the list," said Wheeljack.

"Agreed," said Perceptor.

Hound was a bit perplexed by the situation, but his need to provide for the girls overrode his aversion to remaining in the lab while the two of them worked. He wanted to remain in order to see the fuel completed.

When they were finally done, the first words out of Hound's mouth were, "Is it safe for them to drink?"

Gardens-Cybertron

The following day the girls met all three of the mechs in the gardens. Perceptor and Wheeljack had requested to see some of the crystals that the girls had in their possession so they brought several storage boxes on a rolling cart. In exchange, they got two large cubes of solute. The cubes were tall enough to come up to their chests and just as wide. The girls stared at them in awe.

"Energon is our fuel and we usually drink out of cubes this size," explained Hound. "Perceptor and Wheeljack used some empty cubes to contain your fuel. There's a spigot toward the bottom so you can dispense it. Perceptor was able to make this one taste like lemon and the other like orange."

The girls' eyes lit up at that. They had been stuck with the same berry flavored solute for ages. It was their favorite, but having it all the time was boring.

Wheeljack promptly selected several crystals and showed them to the girls. "I could definitely use these in my work," he said. "But I hesitate to take them because they are hard to find and cost more than you know."

Char gestured to the food. "In our perspective this is immeasurable to us so take the crystals."

Perceptor had selected several as well. "If I might inquire as to where you found this particular specimen? I'm in need of a larger crystal of this kind."

The girls examined it.

"Isn't that one of the smaller pieces that came with the nightlight?" asked Ceci.

Cassy reached up and took the crystal from Perceptor. She enclosed it in her hands and peered in the crack. "Yep, it's glowing."

All three girls turned and headed out of the gardens.

"We'll be right back," said Ceci as they left.

They returned a short time later with another rolling cart. On it sat a giant chunk of the same crystal. Perceptor examined it and concluded that it was what he was looking for.

"You can have it," said Cassy. "We were only using it for a nightlight."

The mechs placed their prizes in their subspace.

"You obviously don't realize the value of your collection," said Wheeljack. "Your carrier must not know about them. May we ask where they came from?"

The girls glanced at each other.

"They're not really anything other than souvenirs," said Char.

"We have a dear friend who travels with her father while he does exploratory missions. She's too young to be a company employee so she finds things she thinks are interesting and sends them to us," said Cassy.

"She must be a good friend," said Hound.

"She's our best friend," said Ceci. "Almost as close as another sister."

"We miss her a lot," said Char.

Satisfied with their answers, Perceptor and Wheeljack took their leave. The girls turned to see Hound eyeing one of the crystals in their collection.

"Do you want that one Hound?" asked Ceci. "You also helped us out a lot."

Hound picked up the dark red crystal. "I think if this is planted in the correct soil, we should be able to grow it," he said.

"Let's do it," said Ceci excitedly. "But first we need to pull this stuff back to our room."

The girls used the rolling carts to pull their remaining collection back to their room. Char had managed to check off all the crystals that the mechs had chosen and updated the list. They then pulled the orange flavored solute out the garden door. Cally took it from there and teleported it to her cave hideaway all the while professing profuse thanks. The girls waited for several minutes and then returned for the lemon solute, which they put into the extra-shared storage between their room and their mothers. They planned to break the news about the extra food to their mother later that evening, but for now they returned to help Hound plant his new crystal.

Stellar Star 5

Now that Cally had a stable food supply, she expected things to continue on as they had, but change is inevitable. Stellar Star 5 was a gigantic spaceport. A steady stream of ships of all sizes came and went in an unending dance. It was here that Elan left the ship for good. With the help of Steven and a couple of contacts that he had made, he was taking a job on a much larger spaceship. Cally understood that he was technically an adult so he could do as he pleased, but she felt as if her family was finally breaking apart. She had always felt as if she were the link between the split parts of her family. Now that Elan was leaving, she truly wondered if she would ever see him again. She teleported back to her hideaway and collected a few of the more valuable crystals that she had stored there. She then gave them and a few other supplies to Elan as a parting gift. Her father didn't appear phased by his departure, but taking Elan with for career development had been his original excuse. Elan boarded his ship and Cally let her sisters know that he was leaving.

Cybertron

The girls were trying to figure out a way to tell their mother that Elan had left the ship and gone on another. They were currently walking down the hallway having a mental argument. Ceci only thought that it was right that her mother be made aware. Cassy and Char surprisingly didn't want to tell her. With her new environment their mother had recovered very quickly and they didn't want her to have a relapse.

"She's received no news of him since he left so there isn't a need to inform her of the change," said Cassy. "That would cause too much of a headache for me."

"How would we even explain that we know?" asked Char.

"I don't think it's right, but I see your point," said Ceci.

At the end of the hallway, a large figure stood. It was a tall mech mostly white with dark red and blue accents. You couldn't see his optics though because they were covered with a red visor. At his feet was their mother and at her side was a man that matched their mother's impressive height of 9ft. The girls took sudden notice of how close they were standing together. Their mother beckoned them on so they walked to the end of the corridor.

"Hello mother," the girls chorused.

"Hello girls," she replied. "I'd like to introduce you to Red Alert. He's the Cybertronians' Chief Science Officer," she said looking up. "These are my daughters Cascadia, Charissa and Cecilia. Red Alert here would like to have a word with you three."

"Who's he?" asked Cassy pointedly looking at the man next to her mother.

"Ah, this is Brava," she said. "He works in maintenance. He was about to help me with something in the clinic."

Brava inclined his head at them in greeting.

"What kind of maintenance work do you do?" asked Ceci jumping in.

"I mainly fix the heating and cooling systems, but I can work on vehicle and ship engines as well," he replied.

"Are you here with your mate or partner?" asked Cassy.

"Girls, girls, questions later," said their mother laughing. "I'm sorry about them. They're too curious sometimes. Red Alert, I'll leave them to you."

"It'll be easier if we go into meeting room 1," said Red Alert.

The girls entered the room and came face to visor with Red Alert. Red Alert had heard about the girls from the other mechs and he could tell they were having a conversation through their bond by the expressions that passed and then disappeared off their faces. They were definitely not pleased about something. He made a noise to get their attention.

"I'm here to ask you about your interaction with the mechs Wheeljack and Perceptor," he said formally.

"Do you want the long or short story?" asked Cassy leaning against the railing.

"Just the facts are fine," replied Red Alert.

"We met Hound. Hound told them about us. We met them. They did a scan and called us interesting. We contacted them to make us special food. They made it and we exchanged it for some old crystals we had," said Cassy.

"We haven't seen them since then," added Ceci.

"Yes, I'm sure they are busy in their labs with the crystals you gave them," said Red Alert. "I'm here to advise you that as Chief Science Officer I'd prefer if you went through me first. Normally, those two don't come to the outpost for various reasons. Rumors about them got back to your mother and I'm afraid she became concerned."

"That's fine," said Ceci. "We didn't know who to go to. We only knew they were scientists."

"You haven't experienced any ill effects from the solute, have you?" he asked.

The girls shook their heads no.

"That's good then. Please ask your mother to contact me if you need something," he said.

The girls exchanged looks and didn't reply.

"Is something wrong?" asked Red Alert.

"Mother isn't always on the same shift that we are," said Char. "So can we contact you through Hound instead?"

"Are you hiding something from your mother?" asked Red Alert as his visor flashed.

A look of surprise appeared over their faces at the question, but disappeared quickly.

"We don't want to burden her with our problems," said Ceci. "It's not like we're keeping secrets on purpose."

"Speaking of secrets, something is going on between mother and that man," said Cassy abruptly diverting the conversation.

"I agree," said Char. "Did you notice how close together they were standing?"

"What do we have to do to get the background information for this Brava fellow?" asked Ceci looking at Red Alert.

"I hardly see how this is relevant," he replied.

"You've met our mother, but you probably don't work with her," said Cassy. "So you don't know that she had an emotional breakdown awhile back when our parents got divorced. We were the people who had to pick up the pieces. We came out here to start over new and suddenly she miraculously starts to get better so much faster than we thought possible. Brava, might be reason why. A possible new father figure is definitely relevant to us."

"However if he's only playing around and he breaks her heart, then we'll have to deal with all that stress again," said Ceci. "His background would give us an indication of where he intends to go. If he's due for transfer or promotion elsewhere, then we'll know ahead of time that he'll be leaving and we can break them up before she gets hurt."

"I'm afraid his personnel file is restricted," said Red Alert.

"But not to you, right?" said Char. "You're allowed to read it and let us now if we should be worried or not."

"Please," all three girls chorused.

"We can strike a deal if you'd like," added Cassy.

Red Alert's visor flashed.

"No deal of the sort is necessary," he said. "I've reviewed the file and found nothing that would cause you to worry."

The girls sighed in relief.

"That's half the battle," said Char. "Ceci, you need to go have a conversation with Cheri and see what the rumors say."

Ceci nodded her head in agreement and the girls looked back at Red Alert.

"Did you need us for anything else?" asked Ceci smiling.

"No, that will be all," he replied.

As the girls headed out the door, Red Alert couldn't help but marvel at how they seemed to be protecting their own carrier as if she were a sparkling. They were obviously harboring secrets from her, but they probably thought it was for her own good. He surmised that was why they had gone to the scientists straight away instead of going through their own mother. Wheeljack was quite right to insist that they were interesting, however it would be safer for them if they stayed away from Wheeljack's lab.

Resin

At the age of eight after her growth spurt, Cally now stood at 6ft. Her sisters all mirrored her growth despite their different environments. Luckily the suit Cally had been given contained pockets of extra material that only needed to be unsnapped when she began to grow.

Cally currently stood on the planet Resin. Like its name, the planet continually oozed substances onto the surface. These could be collected and processed into adhesives and other chemicals, but that wasn't the reason they were here. Two stops ago, Steven had succumbed to age and stress and his heart had given out. They buried the body where they were and continued on. They informed the company and were sent to pick up an additional crewmember on the planet Resin. The male they were waiting for was named Faranakilin. He was some alien species that Cally hadn't heard of before. When he finally showed up, he was late and obviously tipsy. He had a large curved nose, dark mottled skin and a more slender physique that was mostly bones and angles.

"Apologies," he said to whoever was listening. "My mates and I had a bit of a bang before I left. The liquid on this planet makes a mean drink if you get my meaning."

Cally didn't get a good feeling from the man so she retreated to her room. She knew that they needed an extra hand because Dina had just found out she was carrying. She didn't like Dina, but now that she had another half sibling on the way, she kind of hoped that her father would take a planet or port job once the baby was born.

Cybertron

All this time the girls had kept watch over Brava and their mother and practically the whole outpost knew they were watching. It was a running joke for most of them. Cheri was used to giving weekly reports to one of the girls and every now and then one of the employees would find one of the girls sitting in an odd spot observing. Red Alert had come to visit them more than once to see how they were doing as had Optimus Prime and a few new mechs as well. They met Jetfire, Scattershot, Wing Saber and Hot Shot, but they didn't see them very often. It was only two weeks ago that Brava started to officially court their mother, but the girls were aware that they'd unofficially been courting for a while. When the girls told Cally about the situation, she was happy for her mother, but seemed too distracted to really care. She promised to get in touch with them soon after she took care of a problem.

Praxretti

Cally's problem had a name and its name was Faranakilin. On the first stop they made after picking him up, she moved to leave the ship, but turned around to retrieve something from her room and found him standing in it. He blamed it on the drink still being in his system, but she didn't trust the shifty look in his eyes. She immediately kicked him out and looked through her supplies, but nothing had been touched yet. She teleported everything except the unnecessary things to her cave hideaway where she kept her food supply. Anything left in her room that didn't come with her on the trip out, he could steal to his heart's content and she wouldn't care. The ship's controls were currently locked to Aesop and her father's signature so at the very least, he couldn't steal the ship.

The mineral they were searching for on this planet was a very fine powdery mineral. Unfortunately it was located in the soil in small amounts and tons of soil was going to have to be filtered in order to obtain a larger quantity. The planet also had a number of very active volcanoes and there was one nearby where they had landed. A larger amount of the mineral could usually be found melted together in the lava tubes of the volcano if you chose to risk it. Otherwise, you were relegated to spending weeks on this planet sorting soil. Given Dina's condition, she and Aesop had started sifting soil near the landing site. Her father decided to check out the remnants of an old volcano nearby that had obviously destroyed itself, the last time it erupted. All that was left was a partial bowl.

Cally had put on a shiny proximity suit and helmet over her uniform to act as a heat shield against the volcano. She intended to get as close to the active volcano as possible in order to get a greater quantity of the mineral. It was her wish to leave this planet as soon as possible. On Earth, the aftermath of volcanoes normally led to new and exotic growth, but here there was nothing but red soil and black lava formations. The toxins in the air prevented anything from growing here.

Cally moved toward the active volcano cautiously. Scans indicated that the current lava flows were underground and to the left side of the volcano. Cally circled to the right and found an older tunnel that was cool and empty. She followed the smooth tunnel into the interior of the volcano. As she got closer to the center of the volcano, the tunnel floor suddenly collapsed under her feet and she fell. Cally in a panic immediately teleported herself back to the tunnel entrance. She then returned to the edge of the hole and held her scanner over it. There was a lava tube below her that went down a long way. There was nothing to attach a rope to in the smooth tunnel so she used pellets of hardening foam to attach the rope to the wall and floor in three different spots. She then clipped herself onto the rope and began her descent into the tube. The lights on her suit flared to life as she was engulfed in complete darkness. Her scanner beeped every one hundred feet. The rope she was using to descend was only 600ft long so she hoped she could find something before the length ran out. At 580ft Cally saw her first crystal reflect in the light. There seemed to be a small opening in the wall and Cally swung over to it. It was just wide enough for her to crawl into. Thick patches of the mineral she was looking for were embedded in the walls. She used the laser cutter to extract large chunks and placed them in the collection bags. She immediately teleported one bag to her sisters and sent the other bags up to the tunnel entrance. As she pulled one last chunk from the wall, the wall behind it broke open with her tugging and something glittered in her light. She stuck her head into the cavern beyond her recess to see it lined with crystals. She took the rest of the minerals and teleported herself back up to the tunnel. For the first time since she had started on this space trip, she called for her father.

"Father, come in," Cally said.

"What is it Charissa?" he responded.

"I found a lava tube with a whole lot of that mineral, but I also found a lot of crystals too. Am I supposed to collect those as well?" she asked.

"Collect them," he replied. "Send me your position and I'll send the others to collect the bags."

Cally sent a location ping. "Tell them to avoid the left side of the volcano. I'm leaving the bags with the minerals at the opening of the tunnel," she said. "I'm going back down to get the crystals."

"Understood," her father replied. "We'll throw an additional rope down the tube so you can attach the bags. Pull on it when you want it pulled up."

Cally teleported back to the small cave and snagged the rope so she could squeeze through the opening and not fall. There was a partial floor to the crystal room, but Cally knew better than to trust it with her weight. She pulled the rope taut and carefully walked along the walls collecting crystals as she went. There were a few red, green and yellow ones and a ton of white ones. If this planet was anything like Earth, then she bet that the white ones were diamonds. Every bag she filled, she transported to the small cave. When all her bags but one were full, she sorted through them and sent the better-looking crystals in the collection to her sisters. She heard something rustle in the tunnel and stuck her head out to see that a hanging rope with extra bags had been dropped down. She removed the empty bags and attached the currently filled bags to the rope. She tugged on the rope four times and it began to rise. She returned to the crystal room and filled the others and sent them up as well. The few remaining she attached to herself and then started to climb her own rope. She teleported in small steps and arrived back at the top of the tube to see that no one remained. She pulled the rope up, wound it and headed back out of the tunnel toward the ship. Everyone there seemed to be packing up. Faranakilin, Dina and father were packing up the sifter and Aesop was inside doing inventory on the finds. Cally handed him the rest of the bags.

"Good job kid," he said. "This will give us some downtime at our next port."

"What type of crystals are these?" asked Cally.

"Praxrettian diamonds, rubies, emeralds and topaz," he replied. "If the company doesn't want them, we can offload them at the port for some decent credits. You sitting with me for take off?"

Cally nodded her head yes. She'd been learning about the ship's design and Aesop had let her sit as co-pilot so she could start picking up on how to fly.

When everything was packed, Aesop initiated take off and they started on their way. Aesop set the flight path and they were back flying through space. Faranakilin strolled onto the flight deck and leaned on the back of Cally's chair.

"Hey charmer," he said. "You did really good today so I thought I'd invite you for a drink. It's Silverstar special brew which is super hard to get, but you're worth it. What do you say?"

"No thanks," said Cally.

Aesop started laughing. "You do realize that you just asked a child out for a drink," said Aesop glancing over at him. "How desperate are you?"

"What?" said Faranakilin clearly confused.

"Charissa here is 8yrs old," Aesop explained. "She's tall for her age, but she's not nearly as tall as she might get considering Aleixo's height."

"Well slag," said Faranakilin. "I didn't know that."

"Pays to read up on your coworkers," said Aesop grinning widely.

Faranakilin turned and left the flight deck abruptly.

Cybertron

Cally had been so busy that she'd been ignoring her sisters' calls for a while. Most of the time all they got back was a "sorry not now." When she finally reached out to them, they were in the main control room watching the technicians go about their tasks. It was part of their shadow a position curriculum. Right now it was the late shift so there were only two technicians in the enclosed organic side of the room. Outside the raised reinforced enclosure, they could see Scattershot and Jetfire monitoring several larger screens as well.

The girls updated Cally on what was happening with their mother and Cally told them about the samples she had sent them and about Faranakilin hitting on her. Cassy couldn't contain it and she laughed out loud. Ceci buried her head in her hands trying to hide her snickers. Char was doing better at holding in her laughter, but she had a wide grin on her face. The technicians in front of them glanced back, but couldn't figure out what they were laughing at.

"What is going on with you three?" came Scattershot's voice through the intercom system.

They could see through the window that he hadn't moved, but obviously he had heard them.

"Sorry for being distracting," said Ceci. "We were talking about how recently one of the outpost's employees."

"Who shall not be named," interjected Cassy setting off another round of giggles.

"Asked to have a drink with one of us," said Ceci.

"We had to break his heart," said Char giving in and laughing.

"Why is that so funny?" asked one of the technicians.

"They might be tall for their species, but they're only 8yrs old," replied Scattershot. "Some poor mech just asked out a child that's nowhere near drinking age."

"Wait, you're only eight!" said the other technician standing up abruptly.

"Yep," said Cassy.

Jetfire and Scattershot chuckled at the technician's look of shock.

Delta 594

The company office was only too glad to relieve them of all the goods they had recovered. Their particular group had started to make a name for themselves with how good they were at scavenging. So after a quick stop on a nearby asteroid, they stopped at the nearest port city Delta 594 for some rest and relaxation. Dina and her father had reserved themselves a room at one of the more posh hotels near the port. Aesop headed for the tech district always on the hunt for upgrades. Cally didn't have any choice but to stay with the ship because she was not officially a company employee so she didn't have any credits to spend. She left to explore the port regardless, but soon became uneasy when she noticed Faranakilin tailing her. She knew it wasn't because he was concerned for her safety and she easily eluded him in the crowd. She stopped for a moment to look at something a vendor was selling and that one moment cost her. She could feel the waves of energy pass through her body before everything went dark. Cally woke on the smooth metal floor of a place she didn't recognize. Other beings about her size and smaller were lying and sitting on the ground around her. Metal bars surrounded them on all sides. The bars were positioned close enough to prevent even the smallest of them from escaping. The other beings looked downtrodden as if they had already given up and most wouldn't meet her eyes.

Outside the cage, a large metallic looking crab was having a conversation with a giant yellow organic with more muscles then Cally had ever seen. Cally listened in after she made sure the translator was still functioning.

"Is this everything?" asked the metallic crab gesturing with his claw toward the cage and the supplies piled around it.

"It will have to do," said the yellow giant. "Advisor Stroud is merely trying to show off his new position and wealth with these trinkets. I'd rather he stay away from the exotic pets though. If we get caught with them, it'll bring down the Galactic Guard on us."

"They're not that hard to catch," said the metallic crab. "I caught many of them today. A quick zap and they're down. The last one I caught just now following a tip from an acquaintance of mine. He sure likes his Silverstar brew."

It might have been a coincidence, but Faranakilin had offered her that same brand. Cally briefly wondered what had happened to him. She slowly sat back down and reprimanded herself for being caught. Her body still ached slightly from the energy charge she'd been shocked with. She hadn't been kidnapped in a while, but this time was also different because she wasn't alone. She didn't want to leave the others here because if she escaped and looked for help, they might be gone when she returned. The Galaxy Guard had a presence on all the biggest spaceports where the residents could afford them and they were certainly stationed here. She had passed by one of their stations during her earlier exploration. Their job was to prevent any major incidents at the spaceports. They were similar to the police, but not as specific. They only prevented things like all out battle. The kidnapping and sale of other beings also fell under them. Some of them were dirty, but Cally didn't have much of a choice because there was no one else to turn to. She waited patiently until her cage and the supplies were loaded on the ship and the ship had taken off. She then transported the entire group to the front of the guard station. Their sudden appearance startled the giant Galactic Guard standing there. One minute there had been no one and then suddenly ten smaller beings were at his feet having made no noise. The rest of the former prisoners were looking around confused.

"We would like to lodge a complaint against a being called Advisor Shroud for sentient trafficking," said Cally to the guard. "This group just escaped his ship. We can give you a description of his lackeys as well."

The guard ushered the group inside before they could disperse. He recognized several of them from their missing photos that were currently being broadcast on the monitors.

After answering the questions posed to her, Cally left the station and headed back toward the ship. Up ahead she caught sight of Faranakilin. He was walking quite fast obviously trying to avoid the men that were following him. Cally wondered what he had done to get involved with them. He turned the corner when blaster fire threw him back and his body hit the ground blackened and smoking. The men that had been tailing him opened fire on the metal crab that had annihilated their quarry. Shouting was heard and the Galactic Guard showed up. All hell broke loose and blaster fire erupted everywhere. Cally instantly teleported back to her room on the ship to escape.

Aesop returned the following day. "Heard there was a gun fight here," he said. "Did you see it?"

"Nope, I missed it," said Cally.

"Heard it was over some deal gone wrong," he said. "That's why you shouldn't backstab someone, but always expecting to be betrayed keeps you alive as well. When did your father say he'd be back?"

"Tomorrow," she replied.

"Seen Faranakilin?" he asked.

"Nope," she said. This hadn't been the only death Cally had witnessed while exploring the ports. While at first she had been horrified and scared, it merely startled her now, as it was so commonplace.

Her father and Dina showed up the next day looking refreshed, but Faranakilin did not. Whether he was actually dead or not didn't matter to the others, he was late so they took off and left him behind.

Cybertron

The girls went to add another box of souvenirs to the shared storage space when they noticed something odd. The door to the storage room was open already. It should have locked on its own when closed, but every time they opened and closed it, they found that the autolock was blocked. The girls went inside and inspected the supplies, but nothing looked disturbed. That was until they looked at their half full cube of solute.

"What's that green color in there?" asked Cassy.

"Do you think it's gone bad?" asked Ceci.

"No, Perceptor said that it would last for a decade before it even started to come out of solution," said Char.

"Let's talk to Red Alert," said Ceci.

The girls went to the garden and had Hound contact Red Alert for them. The girls then went to meet him in meeting room 3. They waited by the railing patiently.

"Good cycle to you," Red Alert said upon entering. "What can I do for you girls?" he asked.

"Today we found that the door to our storage space was tampered with," said Char. "Nothing was taken, but we believe that something may have been added to the solute. It has an off color."

"Are you sure that the door was not simply broken?" asked Red Alert.

"Even if that is the case," said Cassy. "We checked the second container which is found in a different location and it had not been contaminated."

"Did you report this to your mother?" he asked. "She could report it to the Security Director."

"We don't trust any of the adults on the organics' side of the base," said Cassy bluntly. "If it was contaminated on purpose, then most likely an organic would be the culprit since Cybertronians can't fit down that hall. We want to send the container to the lab and see what was put into it. Can you help us?"

Most of their paranoia sprung from what Cally had said about the solute when she heard it was contaminated. She surmised that perhaps someone wanted to get revenge on them for either the Eto incident or for something else entirely. Cally had told them to get it tested and to keep her in the loop.

"If you deliver it to the gardens, then I'll have one of the scientists analyze it for you," he said placing a hand on the railing.

Ceci who was closest leaned against his hand and he could feel her concern flood over to him.

"I'll see if they can produce more solute for you in the meantime," he promised.

"Thank you," the girls chorused.

The girls dropped the solute off in the garden for Hound to collect. They passed by the infirmary on the way back to their room when they heard a loud exclamation come from Mazia, the other infirmary aid. They rushed in to see Mazia and their mother staring at a scan on the vid screen.

"You're two months along already," said Mazia excitedly. "It looks like a boy."

"You're pregnant again?" asked Ceci. "Mother, why didn't you tell us?"

"I only just found out," said her mother. Her voice was calm, but her eyes betrayed the surprise she felt.

"Whose is it?" asked Cassy. "It's Brava, isn't it? Or have you been moonlighting on him?"

"Cassy," said Char in exasperation.

"Yes it's Brava," said her mother confirming her guess.

"I'll kill him," said Cassy storming out.

"Don't worry, she won't," said Ceci grinning.

"Can we tell him or will you?" asked Char. "I'm sure Cassy is headed there right now."

"Don't be too hard on him," said her mother.

Char and Ceci ran to catch up with Cassy. It took some time to locate Brava and they ended up having to don their spacesuits so they could go outside near a maintenance hanger to find him. Wing Saber and Hot Shot were out there as well. The girls cornered Brava and he looked at them curiously through his visor.

"What did I do?" he asked looking at them.

Cassy started pacing back and forth and then she whirled back and pointed at him dramatically. "How are you going to take responsibility?" she demanded.

"What?" he asked clearly confused.

Wing Saber and Hot Shot exchanged glances. They had no clue what was going on.

"Are you going to marry our mother?" asked Ceci.

"You don't have to," said Char. "But we wanted to know."

"What stirred all this up?" asked Brava.

"She's carrying," said Cassy bluntly. "And it's all your fault."

"Carrying what?" asked Brava.

If the girls could have facepalmed, they would have. Even the mechs behind them, understood what they were saying.

"A baby," said Char.

"She's pregnant?" asked Brava. "With a baby?"

"No, she's pregnant with your baby," said Cassy accusingly.

"My baby," Brava said. "Wait, my baby."

Ceci looked up at the mechs behind her. "I think we broke him."

They chuckled.

The realization finally seemed to sink in and Brava dropped the tool he was holding. "Where is she?" he asked panicked.

"In the infirmary as usual," said Ceci.

Brava started to go one way, but then turned back.

"It's that way," said Char pointing.

Brava left in a hurry.

Hot Shot lowered his hand so the girls could climb on. The feelings that echoed through the girls' EM fields were confused. There was anxiety and excitement mixed together.

"It's supposed to be a boy," said Ceci explaining to the two mechs. "She's only two months in, but we can't be certain how long she'll carry. I don't even know what species Brava is."

"Does it usually vary that much for your species?" asked Wing Saber.

"Well, it did for us. We have an older brother who is half human," said Ceci.

"That's cool. I didn't know you had a brother," interjected Hot Shot.

"Mom carried him for nine months like a normal human baby. She carried us for about five months, but our father wasn't human at all. Who knows how long this one will take," said Ceci. "But at least we'll have someone on the outpost that's younger than us."

Wing Saber and Hot Shot received a general comm and Hot Shot responded. He then put the girls back on the ground.

"Red Alert is looking for you," he said. "I'll take you there." He transformed down into his racing altmode and the girls climbed in. He peeled off and arrived at the office in record time. He let the girls out and drove off after saying goodbye.

The girls looked up confused. This office belonged to Optimus Prime not Red Alert and both mechs were waiting there with expectant expressions on their face. Red Alert carefully picked the girls up and placed them on the desk.

"Do you girls have any idea why you're here?" asked Optimus Prime.

"Unless you're offering congratulations, I'm assuming it's about the solute," said Cassy. "We haven't done anything to warrant punishment."

"You are correct," said Optimus nodding to Red Alert.

"Perceptor and I personally tested the solute and determined that the contaminant would have made you very sick," said Red Alert. "We are currently examining the footage, but we wanted to ask if you knew why you were targeted."

"We were part of the reason that Eto left and his father transferred," said Char. "Maybe his lover wanted revenge, but they waited a while if that was the case."

"As far as I know, we haven't offended anyone," said Ceci looking at Cassy for confirmation. "Didn't Cally say," Ceci started and then abruptly realized that she'd messed up. "I mean couldn't it have something to do with politics," she said.

"Who is Cally?" asked Optimus.

"A friend," said Char. "She's not on Cybertron right now."

"Anyway, she told me the last time I talked to her to be careful because even though we're just the children of the crew, we could be a target," said Ceci quickly.

"Why would you be a target?" asked Red Alert.

"There are only two reasons," said Char. "The first is that we're a mixed species. Someone of a pure line might want us gone if we were too friendly with their children. The second is that were on Cybertron. If off-worlders get injured here, wouldn't that reflect badly on Cybertron? That would be a political move, but I don't know who it would benefit."

Optimus considered their words. If what they said turned out to be true, then security would have to be increased and movement for the inhabitants of the outpost would need to be further restricted for the time being. "Red Alert has informed me that the scientists will make you more solute by the end of the week, but I'll need to inform your mother about the contamination," said Optimus.

"Please, can you not," said Cassy wide-eyed. "She's two months pregnant and we don't want any stress on her right now."

"We weren't harmed," said Ceci. "So there is no reason to concern her."

"She has enough stress on her with this pregnancy," said Char pleading. "You don't realize how difficult it is to carry a child of an unknown species."

"We'll be more careful from now on so that nothing happens. We promise," the girls chorused.

Red Alert and Optimus conferred for a moment.

"As you wish," said Optimus. "While I do not believe your mother is as weak as you think, I will defer to your feelings and refrain from telling her about this incident. Anything else that happens she will be immediately informed of."

"The three of you will report to either Hound or myself if you see something suspicious. You also will not attempt to play detective. Is that understood?" asked Red Alert.

"Yes, sir," said the girls.

Just then Hound walked in the door to collect the girls.

Optimus commed Jetfire and updated him on the situation. He then turned to Red Alert. "We might have trouble brewing in the near future and we need to be ready."

Red Alert nodded his head in agreement.

Ristalia

Cally had heard about her mother's pregnancy from her sisters. If she was happy, then Cally was happy. She still hadn't told them about Dina being pregnant, but then there was the possibility that they would never see the baby if their father didn't choose to settle somewhere. She was also anxious about the contamination situation. Red Alert had told her sisters that it would have made them sick, but she wondered if sick meant terminal. She didn't like that she didn't know, but she trusted the Cybertronians to protect her sisters. It was kind of hard not to with the fond way her sisters talked about them. Cally was pulled from her thoughts as they landed on Ristalia.

Ristalia was a planet rich in many natural resources, but the majority wasn't valuable to most aliens so it was infrequently visited. It mirrored Earth in a lot of ways except that it was uninhabited by sentient beings. Small creatures survived here and there, but nothing bigger than a small lizard could be found. Originally an organic species had occupied it, but they had all been wiped out in a war between two neighboring species. The planet's history was very sad.

It was raining when they landed, but rain was not a deterrent to the job. Cally pulled a waterproof hood over her head and ventured out. They were on the hunt for an organic insect. It was a spider species that produced silken web much like that of the silk worm back on Earth. They needed to collect a few live specimens for the company. Cally immediately headed to the forest where they were likely to be found. As she stepped past the tree line, she heard an odd sound. She heard it again and this time she recognized it as blaster fire. She put her back to a tree and looked around quickly scanning the area for threats, but didn't see anything. Suddenly an explosion occurred in the direction of the ship and Cally quickly climbed the tree to get a better view. From near the top she could see the ship or what was left of it. Flames shot up from the inside sending dark smoke into the air. There was another ship tethered to the ground a few miles behind theirs. It was much bigger. The ship was a warship and she recognized the design carved into the side as belonging to the Solva. Solva warriors were easily recognizable because they had many thin legs like Earth spiders. Their legs were covered in dark blue armor and the tips could pierce most enemy armor. The tallest of their kind only reached about 3ft, but they could easily take down an opponent much larger. According to Aesop's chip, their weakness was their legs. Immobilize them and they didn't have a chance.

Cally quickly teleported to her supply cave and loaded up on hardening foam pellets. She then teleported back to the forest on Ristalia. She made her way stealthily back toward the ship. She didn't have to reach it to know what had happened to the crew. Three bodies lay 200 yards from the ship. They were mostly burned, but still recognizable. Her body heaved, but Cally forced her solute to stay down and continued on toward the Solva ship resolutely. She needed to know why they were here and she needed to know why her crew had died. The Solva were busy loading containers into their ship. Cally snuck over to a stack of the large containers and looked inside to see some sort of powder. She climbed inside and placed her respirator on as a precaution. She patiently waited as the container was moved and loaded. Several hours passed by and she felt the ship engage.

Cally was lucky as the container she was in was at the top of one of the stacks and they hadn't put any others on top of it. She pushed the top open quietly and peered outside. She was in a dimly lit storage area and there were no guards. She scooped a sample of the powder that she was sitting on and took it with her. She climbed down as quietly as she could and made sure her hood was securely over her hair. The last thing she wanted was to be recognized if she was found both for her and her sisters' safety. She quickly made her way over to the terminal. There was only one terminal in the room, but luckily it was integrated with the rest of the ship. She plugged in her data pad and watched as data streamed through the translation software. What she saw made her step back in horror. The Solva were invading and it wasn't only this galaxy that was in danger.

The door to the room suddenly slid open and a single Solva marched in gun aimed. Cally stumbled back and the shot grazed her arm, but she didn't even feel it. She threw two pellets of hardening foam at the soldier and teleported back behind the supply boxes. The Solva was busy trying to free himself from the ever-expanding hardening foam by using its gun, but it wasn't working. Cally didn't know if the foam would kill him, but she didn't care. She teleported back over to her data pad and decided that it had downloaded enough data. When Solva reinforcements arrived, she was already gone.

Cybertron

After discussing it, Brava and their mother told the girls that they had decided to get married. The girls were content that their mother was getting a third chance to be happy. After they asked, Brava had explained that a typical wedding gift for the bride consisted of a hairpiece and a necklace. He told them that he had the metals for it, but not the gemstones. The girls unearthed one of the bags of stones that Cally had sent them. Brava promised to get them cut and to return the unused ones. He said he knew a mech who owed him a favor. The girls had relapsed back into their normal routine when Cally interrupted their calm.

"Get to the command staff," Cally demanded. "Keep this quiet and stay away from all organics especially the Solva. Hurry!"

All three girls turned around and rushed back into the gardens from where they had just come.

"Did you forget something?" asked Hound.

They urgently reached their arms up and Hound knelt to pick them up automatically. He noticed that in the time it had taken them to walk out of the garden their EM field had turned from happy and relaxed to anxious and worried.

"Take us to Optimus Prime or someone in the command staff," demanded Cassy.

"It's an emergency," said Char. "We need to go somewhere private."

Hound immediately assumed that the girls had witnessed something related to the solute incident so he didn't argue and commed the available mechs. He quickly brought the girls to a smaller control station that wasn't used very often. Red Alert, Scattershot and Hot Shot arrived soon after.

"Optimus is currently in a meeting for the next hour so I'll fill him in when he returns," said Red Alert. "What's going on girls?"

"I'll be speaking word for word for a friend," said Cassy. "There was an attack on Ristalia by the Solva that was witnessed by a member of an exploratory crew. The Solva then took boxes of powder with them and departed."

"I have a sample here," said Ceci holding up a clear sample bag.

Red Alert took the sample from her.

"I managed to stowaway on the ship and get into one of their terminals," Cassy continued. "This is the data I found on it."

Ceci held up a data pad and Scattershot accepted it. Suddenly the door to the control room slid open and Perceptor entered. Red Alert handed him the powder and he left without saying a word. Scattershot connected the data pad and the three bots behind him crowded around the screen. Reflected data streamed across Scattershot's visor and all four bots noticeable stiffened.

"What's going on?" asked Cassy. "Are the Solva responsible for what happened here as well?"

Red Alert issued an order over the com-link and Hound put the girls down on the terminal. He quickly left the room followed by Hot Shot much to the girls' confusion.

"She's back again," said Char pulling out her data pad. She suddenly sat down on the control panel. "She's sending me a list. She's checking the places she can get to."

Char continued to type while Ceci read over her shoulder. The mechs paid her no attention until she began reading out loud, "Ristalia ship destroyed, Colony 5 completely destroyed, no survivors, Telmaria base destroyed, no survivors."

Scattershot and Red Alert looked over at the girls.

"That information isn't on this data pad. Where are you getting it from?" Scattershot asked.

Char ignored him and continued to type the information Cally fed her.

Ceci knew she needed to be vague. She was already in trouble for letting Cally's name slip. "Our friend, the one we mentioned before that sends us souvenirs, is sending us telepathic information."

"What about the powder and data pad?" asked Red Alert.

"Personal micro spacebridge," said Cassy quickly. "After all, a ship couldn't reach these destinations this fast. She can only travel to the places she's been before though."

"You say she's a friend, but she may have her own agenda," said Red Alert. "She could have been paid or threatened to tell you these things in order to set up the Solva. How can we trust her word?"

"Trust is earned, not gained," said Ceci sighing.

"That is correct," said Optimus entering the room.

"She says to tell them," said Char not looking up.

"She isn't just our friend," said Ceci. "She's our sister. We aren't triplets. We're quadruplets. After the divorce, father took our sister Calandra and our older brother Elan with him when he left the planet."

"I was supposed to go in her place, but Cally pretended to be me so I could stay with mother," said Char looking up. "Father couldn't tell us apart anyway. We don't talk about her because it will upset mother. She lost two children that day."

"No matter how far apart we are, we can always hear her over the bond," said Cassy tapping her head. "So please, listen to what she has to say."

Optimus nodded his headed and Red Alert brought him up to speed with what they had learned. Scattershot started working with Char to input the data she was recording over the intended targets listed in the stolen data.

"The Solva seem to be waging war in the Selvin galaxy," said Optimus over the com-link so the girls wouldn't hear. "According to the data, they intend to attack the two nearest galaxies as well. Regardless of their intentions, we need to make sure that all our bases and allies' bases are warned. We also need to keep an optic on the ambassadors from Solva here as well. We don't need another incident."

Delta 594

Cally had retrieved the extra helmet for her suit from her hideaway before jumping to the next location as her original helmet had burned with the ship. When she arrived at the spaceport, smoldering wreckage surrounded her. She turned to leave when she heard a groan. She teleported to another spot in the port and slid down a pile of debris. Ahead of her through the smoke she could see two Cybertronians. A red and black mech was lying on the ground injured and above him kneeling protectively was a bright yellow mech. The yellow mech was currently shooting at the crumbling wall where it looked like the Solva were trying to break through. Cally pulled out some foam pellets and threw them at the wall. The hardening foam sealed the holes closed for the time being, but she knew it wouldn't hold for long. She now had the mechs' attention, but she didn't attempt to move toward them. She raised her hands to show she was unarmed.

"Did anyone else make it?" she called over to the yellow mech.

He growled at her, but the red mech answered her. "Most beings fled or were shot down, we're the last bot standing," he said. "Or Sunny is."

"Don't call me that," replied the yellow mech.

"Can you move?" Cally asked the red mech. "Is there somewhere you can go to get repaired? A port somewhere or maybe Cybertron?"

"Tiny, if you could get us to Cybertron, I'd kiss you, but it's too far away and we don't have a ship anymore," said the red mech.

"Can I get closer to you?" Cally asked hearing the increased pounding of the Solva on the wall. "I won't try anything." Cally tentatively came closer. She still kept some distance, but she was close enough.

Cybertron

"We have wounded incoming," said Cassy sliding off the terminal and Ceci followed her. Scattershot caught them before they could fall and placed them on the floor. Cassy ran across the room to the far corner and Ceci ran to the opposite corner so that the girls sort of formed a triangle.

"Optimus, move out of the way," called Char. "Come over by me."

Optimus had just walked over to Char's side when he heard a thud. Quickly turning around he was surprised to see Sideswipe lying on the floor with Sunstreaker crouched over him.

"Primus," said Sideswipe looking over at the surprised mechs. "Tiny actually did send us to Cybertron."

Red Alert rushed over to tend to their wounds and he managed to get Sideswipe stabilized enough to move him to the med bay.

Char continued writing down the places that Cally was telling her about, while Cassy and Ceci returned to her side.

Asteroid 86743t5*

Cally landed on an asteroid on the outskirts of the Selvin system. From there she could see the planet Tansaren. Several large Solva vessels were stationed near the planet, but the planet had a visible force field surrounding it. Cally relayed this bit of information and continued on. She noticed that currently except for the edges of the system, the Solva crusade was located only within that one galaxy. She randomly teleported to several spots further out, but found no trace of the Solva.

Cybertron

"Cally doesn't have anymore information," said Char putting down the data pad tiredly. "The Solva seem to be concentrated on the Selvin system right now."

The girls had relayed everything Cally had said or sent, but other than knowing that the Solva were attacking, they didn't know what was going on. The mechs were talking over their internal comms and there was a lot of movement, but they didn't know for what purpose. They sat around in silence for a while talking to each other over their bond. The only mech currently still in the control room with them was Scattershot.

"Is everything okay?" asked Cassy in boredom.

"Eh, sort of," said Scattershot. "Don't worry though, Optimus is taking care of the situation."

"Cally is coming here," said Ceci suddenly.

A moment later a figure the same height as the girls in a gray spacesuit and helmet appeared on the console. Scattershot leaned back in surprise.

Cally removed her helmet. "Sorry for the intrusion, but I need to talk to my sisters," she said giving Scattershot an apologetic look. Cally turned to her sisters. "Thanks for all your help," she said and then frowned. "The Solva are attacking the Selvin galaxy and I got caught up in it. You already know that Elan left the crew a while back and joined a bigger ship. I haven't heard from him since, but I've no doubt he's out there somewhere. Thankfully I didn't run across the ship in the Selvin galaxy."

The girls took in that knowledge, but weren't fazed at all. It was to be expected as they had known about Elan for a while and if Cally hadn't come across the ship, then it was probably still intact somewhere.

"I have other news, but I'll need mother to be present so it can wait," she said. "I'll keep you updated on what's happening." Cally turned to Scattershot. "They're probably tired. Will they be safe if I send them to their room?" she asked.

"Sure thing," said Scattershot. In front of him the three girls suddenly vanished.

"I need to talk to someone in charge," said Cally. "I might be able to help further."

"I've already commed the boss," Scattershot replied standing. He offered her a hand. "If you don't mind, he's going to give a briefing and you're permitted to come."

Cally put her helmet back on and carefully stepped onto his hand and sat down. Scattershot could feel her EM field, but it was pulled so tightly around her that he couldn't read anything off her. He carried her down the hall into a meeting room that was filled with mechs. Several other ambassadors appeared on the screens around the room. Scattershot sat down and placed Cally on the table in front of him where she remained sitting.

Optimus made a noise that sounded like he was clearing his throat. "To summarize according to our Intel, the Solva have declared war on the Selvin galaxy. We currently believe that all the planets, the spaceports and the outposts within that galaxy have fallen under Solva control. They are currently attempting to breach the barrier around the planet Tansaren that lies just beyond the Selvin galaxy. After we were alerted to the attack on Ristalia, we issued a port wide warning to anyone near or headed to the Selvin galaxy. We have witness accounts from several survivors that escaped the Selvin galaxy to collaborate this. We believe the indiscriminate killing of sentient beings by the Solva was to prevent word from getting out. The Solva ambassadors here claim to have no knowledge of any movement within the Selvin galaxy, but all their ambassadors have left their posts with the exception of the ones here and the ones at the Meridian. Their every movement is currently being monitored. All of you must remain vigilant and we will continue to gather information on the issue as it progresses."

The screens blinked off and most of the mechs walked out of the room until only three remained. Optimus turned his head toward Cally acknowledging her presence. "My designation is Optimus Prime," he said. "This is my Second in Command Jetfire and my Chief Science Officer Red Alert."

"My name is Calandra," said Cally removing her helmet.

"You look identical to your sisters," said Red Alert.

"I may look like them, but don't treat me like them," said Cally. "I'm not naïve. I've seen most of the Solva's destruction first hand. Add in what I've encountered at some of the spaceports and I can claim experience. I am young, but I can still be useful to you in this situation."

"You've done enough," said Optimus. "Why not let us take things from here."

"Because I'm the only one who can get behind enemy lines without them knowing. The powder they were taking from Ristalia," Cally said. "I scanned it too. Did you figure out what it was?"

"It had very high percentages of organic material present in the powder," said Red Alert.

"The Solva are organic creatures that need to eat especially if they're going into battle," said Cally grimacing. "Where better to get food than from the soil from a planet whose entire population perished."

"That's disgusting," said Jetfire.

"From what I've read, the Solva have a queen that rules, but it's not exactly like a hive mind," said Cally. "Did something change?"

"I recall awhile back that the queen was going to be replaced, but that the new queen decided to retain her as duo rule," said Optimus. "With two queens ruling simultaneously, they may have been planning on expanding from the beginning. From the accounts I heard before, there had historically only been one queen."

"I can't help you with their motivation or strategy, but if you're planning on sending someone in, I'm your best chance of getting them in or out safely," said Cally.

"The kid's got a point. She did send Sunstreaker and Sideswipe here," said Jetfire to Optimus over the com-link. "Even though, I'm not sure how. I'm not detecting any spacebridge technology on her."

"I'm restricted to the places the girls gave you on the list, but with a flyer more options would open up," she said looking pointedly at Jetfire.

"What's your motivation to do this?" asked Red Alert.

"I'll do anything to stop them from spreading outside the Selvin galaxy," said Cally. "My father perished with his partner who was carrying my unborn half sibling. The rest of my family is here, but I also have a brother out there somewhere. They need to be protected and I'm in the unique position to do so."

"I understand," said Optimus standing. "Jetfire reconnaissance with Cally around the edge of the Selvin galaxy. Do not engage."

"Understood," said Jetfire picking Cally up.

"Ah, can you not mention the lost lives to the girls or mother please," said Cally. "I want to be the one to break the news to them."

At Cally's insistence Jetfire transformed in the meeting room while Cally put her helmet back on. She climbed into his cockpit and transported him to the edge of the Selvin galaxy immediately. There they could see the gigantic Solva battleships surrounding Tansaren.

"I'm the fastest flyer on Cybertron, but with your ability, I think you've got me beat," said Jetfire. Jetfire relayed his status to Optimus. He kept his distance from the warships orbiting Tansaren and waited for further orders. Cally then teleported back to base at Optimus' request. She was brought back to retrieve Wing Saber. She teleported him to the same asteroid that Jetfire currently orbited.

"Are we going to take them on?" asked Wing Saber.

"We're on standby until we receive word," said Jetfire.

Optimus once again called Cally back to base.

"There is no need for you to remain with them," said Optimus. "They'll be in a holding pattern for some time. We've connected to your suits comm system and we'll call you if we need your help, but I think there is still something important you need to do."

Cally nodded. She inhaled deeply and released it slowly. "May I see my mother now?" she asked.

"Of course," said Optimus. "I believe she is currently in her room."

Cally told the girls over the bond that she was headed to them and teleported into the middle of their room.

"Mother is right next door," said Ceci getting off her bed.

The four girls went next door, but there was no answer. Cassy did a family emergency override, but the room was empty.

"I don't understand. Everyone on this side except the command staff is supposed to be in their rooms," said Ceci. "Maybe she's with Brava."

The girls headed to Brava's room with Cassy in the lead. She activated the doorbell, but there was no answer. "What is going on?" said Cassy putting her hands on her hips.

"Maybe they're busy," said Char giggling.

"Maybe they aren't here," said Cally. "Is there a way to track them?"

"Niva," called Cassy loudly.

The display on the hallway wall lit up. "Yes, what can I help you with?" asked Niva.

"She's our AI tutor," said Char to Cally through the bond. "Ask a question the right way and you can learn all sorts of information."

"We are studying energy signatures and ways to track them," said Cassy. "What's the location of Adrianna's energy signature so we can know if we're right?"

"Adrianna's energy signature is not detected within the outpost or outbuildings," said Niva. "Did this answer your question?"

"Where is Brava's energy signal?" asked Ceci.

"His energy signature is also not detected within the outpost or outbuildings," replied Niva.

"Let's go to the infirmary," said Char puzzled. "Maybe she'll be there."

The girls headed to the infirmary where they found Mazia unconscious on the floor.

"Her life signals are still present," said Cally scanning her. She activated her com-link and got through to Red Alert.

"Red Alert here, go ahead," he said.

"This is Cally. I'm in the pediatric infirmary and we have a medic down," she said. "Also Adrianna and Brava's energy signatures cannot be detected within the outpost."

"I'm sending a medic your way," responded Red Alert. "I will look into the location of your mother as well."

"Can you get us into Brava's room?" asked Cally. "Mother's room didn't look like it had been disturbed."

"I'll send the Security Director to you shortly," he replied.

The medics arrived and secured Mazia. They shooed the girls away so they went to wait outside Brava's room. They met the Security Director fifteen minutes later. He was a tall human with blond hair and blue eyes. The name on his suit read Jones. He had been the one to replace Eto's father, but none of the girls had happened to meet him since he arrived. He used his security clearance to open Brava's door. The door slid open and the hallway lights illuminated a large black sphere resting on a black square base in the center of the floor. There were wires and red lights flashing on the top. Cally flinched. She had seen one once before. She quickly yanked hard on Jones' arm sending him sprawling behind her and raised her right hand before her. Suddenly there was a blinding flash followed by a deafening roar as the explosive detonated. Cally had activated a little gadget that Aesop had given her. It was a onetime use energy shield that was rumored to be able to withstand even the worst energy blast. The field flared covering her and the people behind her, but the blast pushed her back sending those behind her to the floor or against the wall. That was all the time she needed in order to teleport them all back to the control room she had initially arrived in. Scattershot and Wheeljack were in the room when they suddenly appeared on the console. Jones went sliding back and the girls fell onto the console's surface.

"Primus," said Scattershot. "Talk about making an entrance."

"How did we get here?" asked Jones pulling himself to his feet.

"Teleportation maybe," said Wheeljack looking at the girls with interest.

"Well, whatever it was, I'm grateful," he said. "We tried to enter Brava's room and it was rigged to explode. He was definitely hiding something. I need to get back to headquarters and have them look into this."

"I'll take you," said Wheeljack offering his hand. The two of them left.

"Are you girls all right?" asked Scattershot in concern.

"Only because of this," said Cally showing off the device that was now smoking on her wrist. "Black market emergency energy shield. Unfortunately, it's so powerful that it burns out after only a single use."

"How many banned and illegal items do you have?" asked Red Alert from the doorway.

"This one was given to me," said Cally in her defense. "I don't have any credits with which to buy things like this."

"What happened?" asked Red Alert.

The girls told him of their search for their mother and the incident at the infirmary and Brava's room.

"Ah, it was hidden, but I found record of an ambassador's ship leaving Cybertron when all this commotion started," said Scattershot. "The thing is, the ambassadors that own it are still here."

"So Brava was a criminal," said Cassy. "I knew I didn't trust him."

"And he took Mother with him," said Char in worry.

"Do you think she would go with him voluntarily?" asked Cally. "You did tell me that she was completely infatuated with him."

"No way," chorused the girls.

Red Alert received a messaged over the com-link and activated the vid screen. Jones appeared on the screen.

"We were able to recover a small amount of data from what was left of a data pad in Brava's room," he said. "It seems he was involved in some rather shady enterprises and apparently he's well known in certain underground areas under a different alias. Mazia has confirmed that he came to the infirmary and took Adrianna. Security footage suggests that he is most likely responsible for the missing ambassador's ship as well. We're sending out a wanted alert and we'll let you know if we learn more."

The girls stood still in shock.

"Are you all right?" asked Red Alert looking at the girls.

"Our mother has been kidnapped by an underground criminal who escaped to who knows where," cried Cassy. "Of course we're not all right!"

"Oh no," said Ceci in realization. "We gave him a bag full of gemstones for mother's betrothal gift so now he has money to hide as well."

"You did what?" responded Cally.

"He was supposed to become our new father," said Ceci. "We trusted him."

"What do you think will happen to mother?" asked Char in horror.

"Considering she is carrying his child," said Red Alert trying to soothe the girls at least a little. "I believe he will take care of her. His species is known for deeply caring for their offspring. There was no political or monetary advantage to his relationship with your mother and his sentiments toward her appeared genuine."

"But that still means we might never see her again," said Cassy frowning. "And we'll all end up back with father I guess."

Cally winced and Char noticed it.

"What did you want to tell us and mother before?" asked Char turning to face her. "The whole reason we were looking for her was because you had news. Tell us now."

Cally straightened her back and all expression disappeared from her face. "I'm sorry to report that father and the rest of the crew were killed by the Solva on Ristalia," she said. Her statement provoked an immediate response.

Char gasped and clutched her arms.

"What? How could that happen?" cried Ceci in shock.

"How could you let that happen?" accused Cassy. "Why didn't you just teleport them out of there?"

"I was out scavenging for the company," said Cally. "I wasn't anywhere near them. The first time I knew something was wrong was when I heard the ship blow up. It was too late by then."

"So you were off playing and left them," said Cassy spitefully.

Cally rounded on her. "I understand you're upset over everything that's happened, but I won't stand for your tantrum. What does a girl who has never worked a day in her life know? I've done nothing but work since I left Earth and I never got a single credit for it. Do you think I wouldn't have saved them if I could? And what have you been doing while I was stuck out there. Learning and playing with a whole pile of valuables that you didn't even think to use. Oh, wait, you did give them to a criminal that took our mother away. Just as you didn't know, I didn't know until it was too late! I couldn't save them and I won't repeat myself again!" Cally immediately teleported her sisters back to their room. "Sorry you had to see that," said Cally to the two mechs. "They're emotional right now so I sent them back to their room. I'd join them, but I don't think they want me there right now."

The two mechs stiffened as they got a call over the comm.

"What's going on?" asked Cally.

"The Solva ambassadors at Meridian have damaged the spacebridge located near there. They are holding many of the ambassadors as hostages with a rather large bomb they created from their own ship," said Scattershot.

"The closest I can get to Meridian is the second asteroid field," said Cally.

"Cally, I need you to retrieve Wing Saber," said Optimus over her com-link. "Then take him as close to Meridian as you can and return."

Cally teleported to Wing Saber near the Selvin galaxy and then transported both of them to the second asteroid field. "There was a lone asteroid around here somewhere that we visited, but I don't know if it's closer or farther away from Meridian," she said.

"Only one way to find out," said Wing Saber.

They jumped again and from there they could actually see Meridian.

"This is way closer," said Wing Saber flying toward Meridian. "Aren't you going to return to base?"

"I'm staying," said Cally. "If I can get close to the bomb, I can send it safely elsewhere."

Wing Saber entered the atmosphere and let Cally down on the roof of Meridian's base. He continued to the front of the building and transformed pulling everyone's attention. He had given Cally directions to the location where the ambassadors were being held. She pulled off a vent cover and climbed inside crawling in what she hoped was the right direction. She soon made her way over to a grate that overlooked a huge room. The walls of the room looked like they were made of delicate etched glass. In the center of the room was the bomb surrounded by the captured ambassadors. The seven Solva that held them captive were strategically placed around the room weapons drawn.

Cally didn't have much of a plan other than to remove the bomb so she opened the central vent and simply fell toward the ground. Before she landed on the bomb, she teleported herself back up to the vent and sent the bomb to one of the asteroids within the Selvin galaxy. Cally then kicked the vent hard causing the Solva to look up and teleported herself to the ground. She quickly teleported the nearby Solva onto the planet Ristalia. She freed the ambassadors from their bonds, told them to get to safety and then teleported back to the roof.

Outside, Wing Saber was returning fire against the four remaining Solva. Cally snuck up behind them and transported them to Ristalia as well. "Is that all of them?" she sent through the com-link. "I sent the bomb to the Selvin galaxy and the Solva to Ristalia."

"I bet that was a surprise for them," said Wing Saber. "The security feed from inside indicates that there are no more Solva here. Let's head back to Cybertron."

Cally immediately teleported them back.

Selvin Galaxy

Jetfire had seen the small flash that emanated from within the Selvin galaxy. The warships must have seen it too for one of them broke away from Tansaren and headed further in to investigate. Jetfire updated Optimus.

Cybertron

Brava had compromised some of the security systems while making his escape so the security team was manually checking the living quarters room by room. In light of events, they had issued a call for all beings to gather in either one of the meeting rooms or the garden to expedite their search. The girls went to the garden with most of the rest of the crew while the ambassadors mostly gathered in the meeting rooms. The Solva delegation consisting of five members had surprisingly decided to come to the gardens. They garnered a lot of attention when they walked in, but they kept to themselves in one corner of the room.

Hound was the only mech in the gardens at the moment and most of the children gathered around him. Many of them didn't seem to understand the danger they were potentially in. Cassy, Char and Ceci were bunched together in a tight group sitting on the floor trying to comfort one another. He didn't need to be in contact with them to register that their EM field was broadcasting hurt and sadness. He felt sympathy for them, but he couldn't comfort them now as he had a job to do. Hound kept his optics trained on the Solva. It had been relatively easy at first, but now they had split up supposedly under the premise of admiring the domes in the garden. Several of the other crewmembers were also keeping an optic on them. One of them suddenly sent over the comm, "What happened to their leg armor?" The Solva were indeed without their dark blue leg armor and their long spindly spider legs could be seen. Hound quickly scanned the garden. In the corner where they had originally congregated he saw something that made his spark flicker in fear. Every sensor he had was screaming at him that it was a bomb. Hound put out the alert and the crew started to draw those around away from the area, but they soon found all the exits blocked by the now armed Solva. The main Solva ambassador had climbed on top of one of the domes drawing everyone's attention.

"If any of you try to leave, we will detonate our bomb," he said in triumph. "It is strong enough to eliminate half this base so accept your fate. You are now hostages of the Solva. If you value your lives or those of your fellow beings, do not resist."

"You'll gain nothing by doing this," said a large organic green alien from the security crew.

A blaster went off and the alien turned into a pile of green liquid. Several beings screamed and most the children turned away into the nearest adult. Hound had pulled his gun from subspace in reaction to the shot, but the Solva closest to him held Ceci up by the scruff of her suit.

"Don't try anything Cybertronian or her demise is on you," said the Solva.

Cassy and Char were standing right below Hound in stunned disbelief at what was happening. Suddenly the suit Ceci was wearing changed from tan to gray. Hound registered that the girls beneath him had disappeared as well. The Solva that was now holding Cally suddenly vanished. Hound nodded his head in the direction of the bomb and Cally ran over disappearing with it. Hound sent the signal to the other armed security officers. Hot Shot and Wing Saber burst through the door and a firefight broke out. Cally repeatedly returned to the garden sending the cowering hostages out safely into the hall. Some of the Solva had already been shot down, but she still transferred their bodies to Ristalia. Hound had taken a good hit and his right arm was sparking. Hot Shot was also on the ground recovering from a leg shot. Red Alert suddenly entered taking stock of the situation. Other than some minor injuries, there had only been that first initial fatality to the crew. Those who were injured were quickly taken to the med bay.

"Your sisters?" questioned Hound as he walked past Cally as he headed toward the med bay.

"Safe in their rooms," said Cally smiling sadly. "I made sure to check. I'm glad they'll still call for me even when their mad at me or things could have ended differently."

Selvin Galaxy

Jetfire watched as a second ship broke away from Tansaren when another larger flash emanated from a different point in the galaxy. They didn't leave to investigate, but their attention had obviously been turned away from the planet. Tansaren's barrier was still holding, but Jetfire knew it would only be a matter of time. Jetfire contacted Optimus. "I have an idea," he said. "But it will only work with the help of the kid."

Cybertron

After receiving the comm, Red Alert scooped up Cally and headed to Optimus' location.

Optimus turned expectantly when they entered his office. "Jetfire wants to pull the Solva ships away from Tansaren by distracting them internally," said Optimus. "Cally, I want you and Red Alert to rendezvous with Jetfire and then make the jump to several locations in the Selvin galaxy. This will hopefully cause a distraction that will force their attention away from Tansaren. It's unlikely the Solva would want to leave their rear unguarded."

Cally nodded her head in understanding. She teleported Red Alert and herself to Jetfire's position.

Selvin Galaxy

"Are you ready for this?" asked Jetfire transforming.

Both mechs pulled their cannons from subspace and looked at Cally expectantly. She transported all three of them to one of the asteroids near where she had sent one of the bombs. Small pieces of asteroid and debris littered the area from the earlier explosion. There was a Solva ship nearby and the mechs opened fire on it drawing its attention.

Cally then transported them to another asteroid. There were no Solva here, but large amounts of rock littered the space around it. Cally pulled five hardening foam pellets from her stash and asked the mechs to throw them.

"What'd we do that for?" asked Jetfire as he watched the free flying rock start to clump together.

"A small asteroid field just suddenly became a much bigger mass," said Cally over the com-link. "We are trying to draw their attention after all."

They kept jumping from spot to spot landing everywhere Cally had previously been. On the occasions where they encountered the enemy, they would start a battle, but would quickly leave soon after leaving their enemy confused. There was nothing else the Solva could think other than that they were being attacked in their own galaxy.

The last place they landed was Ristalia. They landed at the edge of a thick forest.

"To think this is where we came to look for spiders," said Cally sadly. "It was the beginning of everything."

They briefly encountered several of the Solva that Cally had sent here and they exchanged gunfire. Much to Cally's chagrin, Jetfire took to the skies to take a shot at the warship that had arrived. This left her clinging to Red Alert's shoulder as he ran through the trees avoiding the Solva that were excellent at climbing. They broke into a clearing and Jetfire swooped down. Cally immediately teleported them back to the asteroid outside the Selvin system.

"It worked," said Red Alert scanning Tansaren. "All the Solva warships have retreated." Their actions had caused the Solva to retreat in order to solidify their own defenses.

"Of course," said Jetfire. "Kid, take us back to base. Optimus' office if you don't mind."

Cybertron

Cally teleported them all to Optimus' office.

"Good job team," said Optimus.

"What's the status on Tansaren?" asked Jetfire.

"The defenses are still holding and we promised to set up patrols, but I'm afraid the Tansaren ambassadors want their planet moved."

"What?" said Jetfire.

"Is that even possible?" asked Red Alert.

"It's not the first time it was done. Apparently in the past, they had a way, but a key component of that machine was lost and hasn't been rebuilt yet," said Optimus. "They are requesting that the Galactic Alliance protect their planet until they are able to do so."

"If they fail to build the part," said Red Alert. "The Alliance members could be conscripted for vorns. We don't currently have a spacebridge big enough for it, but perhaps if I get Wheeljack and the others working on it, something could be managed."

"Where are they planning to move it?" asked Jetfire.

"They want to move it to the outer rim of the Walentonso galaxy," said Optimus. "There has been no opposition to it."

Jetfire glanced at Cally where she was sitting on Red Alert's shoulder. "Can you move something that big?" he asked her.

Startled out of her thoughts, Cally looked up to see all three of the mechs looking at her. "I've never moved anything bigger than a Cybertronian," she said. "I can try, but won't the gravitational pull be a problem?"

"No, the shield around their planet can nullify the outside gravitational fields while maintaining the internal ones," said Red Alert.

"I'll need you to take my sisters to the location in Walentonso," said Cally. "I've never been there and I'll need something to teleport to. I suggest you get someone they like to ask them for help. We aren't on speaking terms at the moment."

"I'll come with you to Tansaren," said Jetfire taking her from Red Alert. They teleported back to the asteroid on the edge of the Selvin galaxy.

Hound was the one they sent to talk with the girls. They clung to him additionally saddened that the Solva had injured him. When he mentioned that Optimus needed their help to save many lives, they readily agreed. After suiting up, they met up with Wing Saber, Hot Shot and Scattershot. The three mechs transformed into their altmodes and they each took one of them through the spacebridge into the Walentonso galaxy. The three mechs moved far enough apart so that a planet could fit between them. Scattershot directed them until they formed a triangle.

"This involves Cally, doesn't it?" asked Char through her com-link from where she sat on Scattershot's shoulder.

"Ah yea," said Scattershot.

"It's okay," Char reassured him. "She saved us and even if we're really upset about what happened, it's not like we would ever abandon her. She's our sister after all."

Tansaren

Jetfire had gotten permission to land on Tansaren. He landed on the ground and let Cally out of the cockpit. She immediately knelt on the ground concentrating hands pressed to the soil.

"Can you feel your sisters?" asked Jetfire.

Cally nodded her head. The bonds were fully open and she was getting more than their location. Unsuppressed emotions were flooding the bond. All her sisters were emotionally distressed and Cally could understand that with all they'd been through recently. She would have been trying to reassure and comfort them if she wasn't using every ounce of her concentration to feel the entirety of a planet. She pushed her own EM field out as far as it would go and then pushed it farther. Jetfire went from feeling no EM field to feeling Cally's engulf him suddenly. It was so strong that he could also feel the other three connected to her. He marveled at how she could be connected to others who were so far away. Cally raised her arms over her head and Jetfire could see that they were shaking. Cally could feel the faint life signals of every life on this planet, but she continued to push her field until she felt the crackling of the energy field that surrounded the entire planet. Locked on, she pushed her sisters' location deeper and deeper into her mind until she instinctively shifted and everything shifted with her.

Walentonso

The girls and the mechs where waiting patiently for anything to happen. Cally had promised to try, but it was rather unrealistic to think that she could move a whole planet. Suddenly between them, a planet appeared sending them reeling back from the gravitational spin.

"Well, I'll be," said Scattershot.

"Primus," said Hot Shot.

Suddenly all three girls curled up letting out a keening noise over the com-link.

"What's wrong?" asked Scattershot in concern.

"Cally," said Char whimpering. "She's gone."

Down on the planet, Jetfire received the call that the move was successful, but he was more preoccupied with the limp girl on the ground. He carefully scooped up the unmoving form of Cally and scanned her. His scans indicated she had life signals, but she wouldn't respond to him. He transformed around her and took off flying out of Tansaren's atmosphere. He caught up with the other mechs following them as they went through the spacebridge back to Cybertron.

Cybertron

Jetfire rushed into the med bay clutching the limp body of Cally in his hands. Red Alert met him at the door and they carefully lay her down on one of the empty medical berths.

"What is it now?" said Ratchet leaving his office. "You already stuck me with these pit-spawned troublemakers."

"Hey, not nice Ratchet," said Sideswipe from where he lay. His brother who was sitting by his side snickered.

Ratchet looked at the figure on his medical berth as Red Alert unlatched her helmet. "Why bring her here? I've limited knowledge on organics," he said.

"She's hardly organic," said Red Alert. "I had Perceptor send all the relevant information he discovered in his studies as well as transferred her sister's medical files. The normal medics don't know have a clue about how to handle her and the pediatric medics are either missing or injured."

Ratchet moved over and scanned her. He then accessed and analyzed all the data that had been sent to him. He promptly cut open the left sleeve on her space suit exposing her arm. There was a patch of shinier skin that stood out from the rest of her skin.

"Interesting," said Ratchet. "She received a burn here, but the heat merely fused the prominent metals and minerals in her skin to form a flexible metallic barrier. It doesn't even need to be treated," he said running a digit delicately over the patch on her arm.

"What's her condition?" asked Red Alert.

"As far as I can tell, she's in a form of stasis," said Ratchet. "I'll need any nutrients that she requires and I'll monitor her condition, but as far as I can tell, she should wake on her own."

Jetfire and Red Alert left to update Optimus and retrieve supplies for Cally. There was still much that had to be done.

Fifteen minutes later Hound walked in carrying three other small beings.

"I thought I just released you," said Ratchet turning. "Don't tell me you're back already."

"I'm desperate," said Hound looking at his charges. "I can't get these three to settle down. They can't feel their sister and despite me reassuring them, they've been inconsolable. Do you have a sedative or something?"

Ratchet looked at the three identical sisters in Hound's hands. All three were making soft keening noises. He reached out to touch one of them, but recoiled. "That's quite an EM field they have," he said scanning them. "The other one isn't radiating one at all. To them even if we tell them differently, it must instinctively feel like their bond has been cut off. I'm surprised you haven't been overwhelmed by the emotions they're projecting."

"It isn't easy," said Hound. "I think Cally was the last support structure they had and now it's gone."

Ratchet's optics looked over at the twins who had started to argue with each other. "I may have found a temporary solution." He took Cassy from Hound and walked over and placed her on Sideswipe's chassis.

"What the," said Sideswipe immediately picking up on Cassy's EM field. "Ratchet, what are doing?"

"See that femme over there," said Ratchet pointing to the prone figure of Cally. "She's the one who saved you and your brother's aft."

"So that's Tiny," said Sideswipe.

"She's also the sister of these three. They're identical quadruplets and right now her bond which is similar to your twin bond has gone silent," said Ratchet. "You probably understand what I'm saying. You owe her so take care of her sisters. It's not like you've got anything else to do while you recover." Ratchet took Ceci and handed her over to Sunstreaker. "She's not organic so she won't get oils on your paint," he told Sunstreaker before he could protest. "They're only eight years old so be careful with them."

"Oh, they're only sparklings," said Sideswipe. "The way Tiny talked made her seem much older."

Hound remained in the med bay with the others not sure that he should separate the girls any further. With only one to care for, Hound found it was easier to influence Char's EM field and it wasn't very long before she stopped keening and slipped into recharge. Sunstreaker had nearly the same result as Hound, but Sideswipe found dealing with Cassy harder. She was the most stubborn of the three and she fought off sleep with everything she had. Sideswipe continued to talk to her prattling on about all sorts of things that he'd done and finally she was defeated falling into deep sleep. Their EM fields settled peacefully giving the mechs much needed relief.

Ratchet made sure the girls got their daily solute when they finally woke up the next day. They were still somewhat disorientated by everything that had happened, but they had greater control over their EM fields and it wasn't broadcasting as much. They seemed to be talking amongst themselves because occasionally one of their expressions would change without warning. It was amusing to watch the twins with them. Ratchet watched Cybertron's best frontline warriors softly croon at the girls. The twins seemed to understand the importance of staying in contact with them. Even Sunstreaker never for a moment let Ceci go, she was always clutched tightly to his chest in one hand while he polished his armor with his free hand. Whether she was willing or not, Sideswipe had a captive audience in Cassy so to keep himself occupied he told her story after story. Hound had it the easiest with Char. He carefully stroked her head while she lay motionlessly against his chest.

Three days had passed in much the same manner when suddenly all three girls leaned back simultaneously and inhaled deeply with their eyes closed. All the tension seemed to leave their bodies and they went limp against their guardians.

"Ratchet," called Hound in worry.

Ratchet came over and scanned Char. Her eyes were silver slits as she lay limply against Hound.

"Ratchet," said Sunstreaker.

Ratchet glanced over at Sunstreaker and he tilted his head indicating the patient across the room. Ratchet went over to Cally to see that she had shifted. Her eyes opened briefly and then reclosed.

"They're all right Hound," said Ratchet turning back. "The tension left them because their sister is starting to wake up. They can probably feel the bond again. Just in time too," he added looking at Sideswipe's stats. "You're good to go and I don't want to see you in here again for a long time." Ratchet collected the girls from the twins and handed them back to Hound. He shouldn't have a problem with them now.

On his way out Sideswipe stopped and peered down at Cally and her eyes cracked open for a moment. "Hey Tiny," said Sideswipe smiling.

Sunstreaker reached over and ran a finger gently down her hair and she reclosed her eyes. The twins headed out of the med bay and Hound also left with the girls to go to the gardens after Ratchet recommended that being in a more familiar place might help them.

Ratchet came over and gently picked up Cally. She'd been out for three days and he needed to get some solute into her. She was responsive enough to slowly take the solute, but her EM field while now detectable was pulled so close to her that Ratchet couldn't read it. He stroked her back comfortingly for a while before placing her back on the berth. He sent a comm to Optimus about her condition, but it was Red Alert who showed up to check on her. With Red Alert there, Ratchet left the med bay to attend to some errands.

Red Alert was sitting next to her berth reviewing a data pad when he heard a soft keening noise. It was coming from Cally and she was finally fully awake. She was curled up facing away from him and keening in short bursts. She was grieving Red Alert realized. Hound had contacted him in a panic three days ago when the girls had first broken down with him about Cally's bond being blocked. The girls didn't leak fluids from their optics like the organics instead they took in and released air faster than they required it and they keened in varying loudness and duration. Cally's keening had caught him off guard because she had seemed so logical and unaffected during the whole Solva invasion. It was almost as if she had shut off her emotional circuits. Before, none of the mechs who had been in contact with her could pick up anything from her EM field. Unlike her sisters, she seemed to have flawless control over it, but right now it was radiating sadness and he wasn't even in direct contact with her. Though he knew that there wasn't much he could do but let her grieve, he reached over to her berth and picked her up blanket and all. She didn't resist as he cradled her against his chest. He pushed comfort through his field and the keening slowly came to a stop.

When Cally had woken up, the first thing she felt was exhaustion, pure full body exhaustion. Never before had she felt so tired and yet her mind replayed the events of the last few days over and over until the emotional dam broke. She wasn't even aware she was keening as she grieved for her father, Dina, the baby and the fate of her mother. With the babies, she hadn't even been aware that she'd been looking forward to their births until now. Her father and Dina weren't her favorite beings, but she had not wished them harm. If she had, she wouldn't have bothered to help them with their work. She had come to rely on the crew if only as constant companions and now that was gone. Her sisters were upset and angry and she had doubts that they would accept her presence back so soon. She could at least feel them through the bond, but she still felt so alone. When Red Alert picked her up, Cally didn't bother to move. The hand that held her and the metal of his chest seemed warm to the touch. She could feel waves of comfort streaming from the mech. It was a soothing touch that Cally had been denied these last two years. She turned trying to increase the contact between them scared that at any moment he would put her down.

Cally's EM field flared with need and Red Alert looked down to see Cally gripping the seams in his armor tighter. It was obvious that this little one hadn't been cared for properly in a long time. He took a seat on a nearby berth and then ran a comforting finger along her back over and over.

Optimus walked into the med bay to see Red Alert lying on one of the medical berths with Cally cradled on his chest. Red Alert's visor flashed in warning, as he got closer.

"So she woke up," said Optimus over the com-link not wanting to disturb her.

"About an hour ago," replied Red Alert over the com-link. "She finally broke down and grieved, the poor sparkling. The way she was clinging to me makes me think that there was no one there to care for her."

"There are a lot of beings out there that owe her their lives, but I don't think it's safe for her to let them know about it," said Optimus. "I'm working on a way to keep them here for their safety. Keep me updated on her progress."

Ratchet came back into the med bay to see Red Alert cradling Cally on his chassis. She was sleeping again and Red Alert was in recharge as well. He came over and ran a scan, but everything seemed okay. He placed the new uniform he'd procured for Cally on the next berth.

Cally woke only moments before Red Alert came out of recharge. He glanced down at her to see her looking up.

"Sorry about clinging to you earlier," said Cally looking down embarrassed. "Mother was always affectionate, but father was really cold. With your EM fields, you're on another level than even mother. No wonder the girls love you guys."

Red Alert put a finger under her chin and lifted her head slightly. "It was not a problem. Come to me anytime you need me. You may not be as childish as your sisters, but you are still a child. It's okay to act like one now and again."

Cally smiled up at him. "Thanks," she said shyly.

Ratchet came over and removed his patient from Red Alert's chassis. He helped her bathe much to her embarrassment and put her new tan suit on. She managed to take her solute on her own today.

"Since she's wearing the same color now, you won't be able to tell any of them apart," said Ratchet to Red Alert.

Cally giggled.

"We'll be taking our leave," said Red Alert picking up Cally.

Suddenly the med bay doors swung open and a soot covered Wheeljack was brought in supported by two mechs. Red Alert went around them and left even as they heard Ratchet yell. "Wheeljack, what did you do now!"

"Optimus wishes to see you, but I believe we should stop by and see your sisters first," said Red Alert.

"Okay," said Cally softly.

Red Alert took her to the gardens where they found her sisters with Hound, but they were all fast asleep in his arms.

"You must be Hound," said Cally. "Sorry if they caused you any trouble."

"It was no trouble at all," replied Hound smiling.

Cally smiled in return. "They've been coddled too much by you lot, but I guess I'm guilty of the same."

The next stop was to Optimus' office. Optimus greeted her and inquired about her health.

"I'll survive," said Cally and then she frowned. "I think I should leave," she said. "My presence here because of my ability puts my sisters in danger. Their ability is still limited so they can't be used in the same manner."

"What if we offered you protection?" said Optimus.

"I don't wish to bring you anymore trouble," said Cally. "With mother and father gone, we'd only be a burden though I suppose I could bargain with some of the supplies that I have."

"You have hardly brought us trouble," said Optimus reassuringly. "It was not your fault that the Solva attacked. You have done nothing but help and many beings survived by you bringing the information you had to us."

"You are not a burden," added Red Alert. "The ties that bind you to your parent's companies have been severed. We will have to move you out of the outpost, but we will gladly take you in."

"I would like to assign a guardian to you and your sisters for the time being while we try to find your mother," said Optimus.

"My brother is also old enough to take guardianship over us," said Cally. "Though he took a ship off to who knows where."

"We will look for him as well," said Optimus. "In the meantime, Red Alert, Hound, Scattershot and Hot Shot will be your guardians. One of the four will be available to you at all times."

Cally looked up at her new guardian to see him gazing down at her. She could feel a sense of contentment from him over his EM field.

"All right," said Cally. "Let's give it a try."

"Before Red Alert takes you to your new accommodations, I'd like to properly thank you for your help with the Solva situation," said Optimus formally. "Without your actions, the Solva would already be spreading to the next galaxy. Currently all the surrounding species are now aware of the situation so they can prepare. Even with all that you lost, you fought with us to stand against an enemy that could have devastated the surrounding galaxies. I thank you on behalf of the Galactic Alliance many of whom will never know of your involvement."

Cally had no idea what to say to that so she simply nodded her head in acceptance. Cradling her closer to his chest, Red Alert left the office and headed out of the outpost once Cally secured her helmet. Cally looked around with some excitement at the Cybertron that they were passing through on the way to her new home.