Author's Note: Hiya everyone. Hope you're all enjoying the story so far. It's drawing to a close, with one or two more chapters plus the epilogue, but don't worry there is a sequel. I bet everyone's noticed that I keep mentioning The Lord of the Rings. First of all, as you all know, it's not mine. (I wish!) It belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien (may he rest in peace) and I'm not getting any money from it. Second, this is my favorite book in the whole world and the movies are awesome too (though you should still read the books first). You'll notice that Isis doesn't exactly like them, but that's what her character requires and I can't mess with that. Luckily, for my consolation prize, Anárion and Taratron love them, so that's okay. Well, that's all.

Chapter 15

For the following three weeks, Isis spent most of her spare time with Anárion. She knew she had to go back to see Commander Prowl about her next assignment, but until then she intended to enjoy whatever was left of her time off.

"What are your plans for the near future?" she asked Anárion on the night before she had to return to the M.I.U..

"Truthfully, I was going to wait until later, but I suppose now is as good a time as any to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"I have signed up on an exploration mission. It will cover a new sector and will go deeper into space than usually."

"An exploration mission?" Isis raised an eyebrow. "What's a great fighter pilot like you going to do on an exploration ship? You're way to good for that."

"I thought I should like to see the rest of the universe," he replied. "Cybertron has become a bit…confining for me."

"When will you b back?"

"I do not know, but I hope it will not be too long. I hate to be away from you."

"Me too," Isis smiled at him, "but I still don't know my assignment. Most likely I'll be busy too. I'll miss you."

"And I shall dwell in darkness without you, my love."

Isis laughed and shook her head. "Sappy as always."

He returned the smile. "I have something for you," he got up and disappeared into his bedroom. He returned a nanoclick later caring a set of three thick books. All three were bound by leather covers with very tough-looking spines. Their covers were beautifully decorated with silver leaves, and their titles were written in gold.

"Oh no!" Isis covered her eyes. "Don't tell me! It's The Lord of the Rings trilogy."

"Yes it is, but please don't jump to any conclusion. This is my greatest treasure, aside from you, of course. I want you to have them while I'm gone."

"Thanks," Isis received the books, "but don't think I'm planing on reading any of them. I had my fill from listening to Taratron."

"You've never read them," Anárion pointed out. "Personally, I think you would enjoy them. Here," he picked up the book from the top and read the title. "The Return of the King. Ah yes, the end of the Third Age," he flipped through a few pages and bean to read. " 'I have, maybe, the power to heal her body, and to recall her from the dark valley. But to what she will awaken: hope, or forgetfulness, or despair, I do not know. And if to despair, then she will die, unless other healing comes which I cannot bring. Alas! For her deeds have set her among the queens of great renown.' " He closed the book.

"What was that?" Isis asked, her curiosity taking over.

"I thought you didn't want to read it?" Anárion asked, amused. "Well, the speaker was Aragorn, the man who later becomes king of Gondor. He spoke of a woman named Éowyn, the shieldmaiden of Rohan. It is a long tale, but in short, she had come to fight and was struck down by a great evil. Aragorn was indeed able to heal her body, but he could not heal her broken spirit. In the end, she had to find healing within herself."

Isis looked down at the pile of books in her lap. "So you still manage to teach me a lesson." Anárion sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her, and Isis laid her head on his shoulder. "Tell me," she said quietly, "did the girl ever find her way out of the darkness?"

"You'll have to read the books to find out," he ran a hand through her hair.

She sighed and snuggled closer to him. "Maybe I'll read them after all."

* * * * * * * * * *

In the morning, at 0700 hours, Isis returned to the headquarters of the M.I.U.. When she entered Commander Prowl's office and saw him sitting at his desk and shuffling through papers, Isis had to smile. It was as if everything was back to normal.

"I trust there won't be any temper tantrums this time, Miss Khmer?" he didn't even looked up.

"No, sir," she grinned.

"Good," he sat up and pushed the papers aside, "then we can get right down to business. Please sit down," She did. "I've called you here today, because we need to discus the matter of your special assignment. Dila, Celadon, and Astroburn have already received their missions. Taratron is missing, but I hope to find him soon enough. Which brings me to you. I do have a mission for you, Isis, but in light of the recent events, I'm making this mission optional."

She took a deep breath. "Alright."

"It means that if you chose to refuse it, I won't think any less of you. I understand that after what happened, you may want a rest from any assignments. Moreover, if you don't feel fit for it, I forbid you from taking on this mission, since it requires you to be in top shape. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir, perfectly, but before you go any further, I must tell you that I already accept the mission no matter what it is. I need to move on with my life and brooding on the past doesn't help in any way."

"Good," Prowl said approving. "Now let us discus your mission. Tell me, what do you know about Protoform X."

Isis thought for a moment. "It was the result of an attempt by our scientists to recreate the Deceptacon Starscream's invincible spark. The subject was very powerful but eventually went mad and killed a huge number of our people. He wiped out a small deep space colony named Omicron. He could not be recycled, but was finally contained in a stasis pod."

"All of that is true," agreed the commander. "As you can imagine, the Elders want him off the planet. We have arranged for his stasis pod to be taken by a ship and dumped on some deserted planet where he can't cause anymore damage."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I fail to see what this has to do with me."

"Be patent, I'll explain. The Maximal military wants someone other than a bunch of scientists on that ship, because if X were to become loose, it would be an unthinkable disaster. Your mission is to make sure that doesn't happen, and in the worst case , if X escapes, your job is to stoop him."