Chapter 1: Old friends and a new enemy.
Months after the sacrifice of Optimus Prime, new life is still taking a long while to happen. Ultra Magnus is in the new Autobot Headquarters in Iacon City. He talks to Ratchet, who is currently with Knockout trying to send messages across the galaxy about the war ending and the Autobot's victory. Ultra Magnus asks Ratchet if there is any progress with the new hotspots on Cybertron. Ratchet replies, saying that it will be a few years before the first new Cybertronians get to come to life. Suddenly, the Teletraan computer's screen is a danger warning. The screen says, "Alert! Incoming Decepticon Shuttle! Life forms, three!" Ultra Magnus contacts Bulkhead but before he can finish his sentence, Bulkhead says they got the alert and is currently with Wheeljack and Smokescreen en route to the new spaceport. A few minutes later the shuttle's doors open, Bulkhead tells Smokescreen and Wheeljack to halt, they transform into bot mode and aim their weapons at the door. Out the door, comes Smokescreen's old buddies from the Elite Guard, Hot Rod, Bluestreak, and Tracks. A few hours later, they've all been caught up with recent events such as the Predacons, Optimus' sacrifice, the new hot spots, and the Autobots winning the war.
Ultra Magnus walks up to the trio's highest-ranked officer, Second Lieutenant Hot Rod, asking how they got a hold of the ship. Hot Rod responds, saying "We were stranded in the Ranus system when our small camp got a random energon signature. We ran towards it, and it turned out it was Triplecon, you know, the guy so big he can divide himself into 3 different guys who he just called One, Two, and Three? Anyway, we defeated him, stole his spaceship blah blah, went back to Cybertron to scavenge some stuff we had left behind, and saw that it was looking as bright as before the war started, which then led us to you." Ultra Magnus asks "What is it that you left behind?" and Hot Rod says that Bluestreak had left some fuel somewhere in the old Iacon HQ which they were going to use to find more Autobots. Ultra Magnus then asks his final question, "Okay, final question Second Lieutenant. What became of Triplecon?" and Hot Rod says "Well we placed some mines we found and detonated them. Triplecon ran towards it so we took the opportunity to leave him stranded there and head here." Ultra Magnus also says "Did it occur to you that Triplecon, in his main form, transforms into a spaceship? And he could've placed a tracker in his ship, and Triplecon, one of the 5 Decepticon Juggernauts, next to the Triple Changers and Phase Sixers, could be coming here right now?" Hot Rod says, with a low voice, that there was a tracker but didn't know who it was for, which was another reason they came here so that they could salvage some leftover ammunition.
Suddenly, the Teletraan computer gets another alert, saying "Alert! Alert! Decepticon Signature recognized! Decepticon Juggernaut Triplecon inbound!" and Ultra Magnus tells Smokescreen, Tracks, Bluestreak, Hot Rod, Bulkhead, Arcee, and Wheeljack to intercept but there is a sudden rumble in the building, they realize Triplecon is here. Triplecon appears in front of the Autobots, saying "Ah, quite a big amount of Autobots. Nine I see. I haven't seen more than four since the time I eliminated 100 Autobots on Arbus XI. That'll be fun." Ultra Magnus thinks in his mind, "Wait, why nine? Me, Ratchet, Smokescreen, Tracks, Bluestreak, Arcee, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Knockout, and Hot Ro- wait, where's Hot Rod?" and then Triplecon says "Triplecon, DIVIDE!" but suddenly a rocket launcher hits Triplecon's T-cog, disabling him from dividing or transforming to escape. Triplecon is shocked, Ultra Magnus takes advantage of this and jumps on him. Bulkhead and Wheeljack follow, beating him up with their melee weapons. A few hours later, they put him in a holding cell. Hot Rod says "Well, looks like without me you would all be dead." Ultra Magnus responds by saying, "Well, looks like without you he would've never come here." They argue for a bit, but eventually settle down. Hot Rod and his crew help Vehicons rebuild Cybertron.
