"Gentlemen, may I introduce to you our newest teammate?" Megatron bellowed as he entered the com-room, gaining the attention of the other Predacons, "This is DinoMiner... Some of you might have heard about her at our old home."

Each Predacon took the transformer in on his own way. Rampage frowned to him. There was something unusual with her spark. He could sense it. Dinobot grinned, though he didn't know why. He felt like he knew her. Inferno saluted promptly, glad to see another transformer at the side of his Queen. Waspinator tilted his head, thinking about how weird it was to have 2 lizardbots now. QuickStrike was the first to really react though.

"Well howdihi gall," he said, moving up so close to her he actually seemed to ride her leg.

DinoMiner looked him up and down for a few seconds, then smiled, though it seemed more like a wicked grin.

"Howdi yourself!" she said, "It's so good to know not everyone has grown up here yet..."

She deserved a chuckle from Tarantulas by that and a smile from Megatron, which was rare. Inferno eyed her differently now. She was having much power over the Queen. Was she a threat? Perhaps the mate of his Queen? No... That was impossible. His Queen would have enlightened him about anything that important. Then who was she? As he heard his name though, his attention snapped back to his Queen.

"Inferno, you and DinoMiner will set up a surveypost north up here," Megatron said, pointing at a grid on the map.

"Yes, my Queen!" Inferno said, saluting, not letting any of his doubt about DinoMiner show.

"We'll leave at once," DinoMiner said, transforming to beastmode and walking to the cargo bay of the base.

Inferno followed her. Once inside the cargo bay they started collecting what they needed and strapping it together in 2 piles. Inferno was even more puzzled when she didn't complain about the task. Females tended to be whining all the time, Blackarachnia had proved him that, but this specimen took her pile of metal and moved it out the base. Inferno frowned, knowing no one could see him there. Females were an enigma. Converting to beastmode he took his share outside too, where DinoMiner was waiting.

"Lead the way," she said friendly. Inferno just nodded, not knowing how on Earth he could react to her without showing his confusion. While walking, they hardly spoke a word, except about the direction they were heading in. Eventually, DinoMiner did what Inferno feared. She started a conversation.

"So... Why do you call Megs 'Queen'?" she asked, eyeing him sideways.

"I..." Inferno fell silent for a few cycles, "I don't know."

DinoMiner nodded understandingly. "Must be your beastmode then."

"What do you mean?" Inferno asked before he could stop himself. Now he'd done it. For the entire beastwars he had masked himself as a drone who couldn't think, and didn't care about anything but Megatron.

"Ants have a colony, with a Queen. As you're a Pred, you see the base as the colony, and as Megs is the leader, he's the Queen to you," DinoMiner explained.

"Sounds logical, yes," Inferno said, knowing he didn't need to keep acting like he was a drone, "Would you promise me something?"

"If I can, I will... What do you want me to promise?" DinoMiner asked.

"Ever since I came here, I've been acting like a drone. I can think perfectly for myself, but the others don't know that," Inferno admitted, "But you... You're an enigma to it. You're not like the other females around here. I've blown my cover with you because of my confusion. Now I beg you to still let me keep my secret. I want my Queen to trust me, but if he knows I can think normally, he won't trust me anymore."

"You have my word, but why do you trust me?"

"Right now, I don't have any choice," Inferno said, "And the Queen seems to trust you."

"That's because him and I know each other from WAY back," DinoMiner said, grinning.

"Explain," Inferno said.

"Well, I met him while he was searching for comrades to join him at stealing the golden disk that started all of this," DinoMiner said, "Unfortunatly, the Preds noticed what Megs was planning... I saved his ass by causing a diversion which got me captured."

"Why did you do that for him?" Inferno asked, clearly not understanding that. He had read about the prisons of the Preds.

"Not only for Megs... Also for Dinobot and Tarantulas... I know them really well. I consider them my friends," she said, then her mood dropped, "But Dinobot didn't seem to recognize me at all..."

"That's because that's not Dinobot anymore," Inferno informed her, "Dinobot died. He joined the Maximals shortly after the Predacons landed on this planet. And he was eliminated by us. Megatron sort of cloned him, using Rampage's spark to make him unbeatable as it were. This isn't Dinobot. This is DinobotII. I'll let you read my report when we've completed this mission."

"Thank you," DinoMiner said quietly. Dinobot dead? HER Dinobot? She had never thought it possible. With difficulty she managed to keep control of her emotionchips. He had been the actual reason to come here. The fact that both Maximal and Predacon tried to catch her far in the future was another story. One which the Preds and the Maxi's would never be told. She hoped.