Disclaimer: I only own my OCs. Vox belongs to a friend.

Authoress: I have no hope of defending the length of time that this has taken to update.

Pandimala: You have no excuse. You are just lucky that we are all more patient than you are.

Tana: That is correct. We will just kill you when you aren't looking.

Zarron: *helmslaps Tana* That's too dark Tana!

Tana: *optic ridge twitches*

Authoress: *nervous* And I am going to continue on here. *runs*

Chapter 12: Eine Neue Welt

Pandimala's 1st P.O.V.

I couldn't help but stare at the front monitor, which we had showing Cybertron growing smaller and smaller. A large part of me felt pain as I watched my homeworld start to disappear in the distance. The planet that I was born and raised, the planet that held memories that were difficult and joyful both, and friends and family that I may not see again.

However, this was also a chance to have a grand adventure and discover more of what I could become. A chance to forge a path in life that wasn't an option before. To venture beyond Cybertron, without the Council holding me back, and reach heights that I never thought I might. This was the path that was now in front of me.

Plus, I was not alone. I took a glance around me and smiled when I saw my friends...my family...working to make sure the beginning of this flight started off smoothly. Vox, of course, was at the helm steering us on a path that would take us away from Cybertron and toward somewhere new. Balm, though she wasn't in this room, was in the medical bay making sure that the room was organized in a way that she could use it efficiently. Remcy was at a station organizing information files that the ship had access to so he could access the files with ease.

Tana, like Balm, was not in the room with us but she had gone to the ship's training room to make sure that the system was working properly. She seemed very eager to go and try it...probably for the chance to hit something. Finally, I looked out of the corner of my optics to see Zarron standing next to me, staring at the monitor that just showed our homeworld disappearing. He seemed very omposed and ready to face the future ahead.

Unlike me.

They all seemed to go with all of this like it was just another solar while I couldn't even get passed the notion that this was happening at all. WouldI really be able to survive out here with the backing of the Autobots? They had been around me my whole existence and now I was supposed to survive with just my friends. I trusted my friends, but where we going to be able to do something that took an entire faction to do on Cybertron?

"Do I need to call Tana to give you another helm slap?" Zarron suddenly asked me.

What washe talking about? "What do you mean Zar?" I really had no clue what he was talking about.

He, in turn, shot me a knwoing look once he turned to face me fullly, causing me to turn to face him, before he continued, "Pandimala, through all the stellars I have known you, do you really think you can stop me from reading you to figure out that you are still having mixed feelings about all of this?"

I flinched at his words and turned back to look forward, before I resonded to him. "Everything is just changins fo fast Zar. I gave so much of my trust, strength, and loyalty to the Autobots…" A wave of sadness washing over me caused me to pause so I wouldn't start crying again. This entire situation already caused enough tears to fall. "And now here we are. Out in the vastness of space and, I don't know about you bots, but I feel completely lost. I feel ike the Council really won out on this one." And as I said those worlds, they felt even more real. Yes, this was a chance for a new adventure...but would we een survive long enough to experience those adventures?

"Cut out the scrap." I flinched at those words and glanced up at the helm to see Vox almost glaring down at me in a scolding way. Hadn't seen that look for stellars. He then entered in a few commands, probably putting the ship on cruise, before he walked over to Zarron and me. "I know you really don't believe those words Pandimala." I went to argue with him but he kept on rolling. "None of us can really comprehend what you are going through right now. You have placed so much work into the Autobots, gave up so much and risked so much, and they cast you aside." He then grabbed one of my shoulder cannons and pulled me down so we were closer to the same level. "But, that does not give you the right to say that the Council has won."

My only reaction to Vox was to stare at him in shock. His words seemed to dig into my spark like a dagger and I wasn't sure how I should be reacting. "He's right you idiot." I moved my gaze in surprise as Remcy said that as he walked away from his monitor. He had a smile on his faceplate and that made me feel a little better. "Saying that they have won only makes that scenario closer to a reality. Plus, you don't know what the future holds. None of us do. We just need to make sure we work together." He then let out a laugh before saying, "Though I gotta say that a little more warning about you being the creation of Decepticons would have been a little more helpful before all this happened."

Zarron nodded in agreement. "That's true. We could have helped you more if you would have only let us in." I then flinched as he gave me a helmslap. "So from now on, let us in you stupid femme."

As weird as it was, these mechs really knew how to pick up my spirit. So, I smiled and nodded at that before saying, "I guess that's fair." The four of us then started to laugh.

"You know," Vox started as we began to calm down. "the only ones who really lost in this was the Council. Not only have they lost a triple changer, which could have given them a huge advantage against the Decepticons, but they have lost many of their top agents in a number of fields." He then put his servos against his hips before he continued. "Now, we need to show the Council what they lost."

"And a good way to do that is to do something that even the Council, and Autobots in general, have not been able to accomplish." I turned at Tana's voice and watched as she and Balm walked down to the rest of us from the doors.

Zarron raised an optic ridge at Tana as the other two femmes on the ship stopped in front of us. "Oh, and what is that great warrior?"

Not missing a beat, Tana gave Zarron a helmslap before she continued. "That's easy. Let's make it the goal of our group to end this war once and for all! We have the skills to do that. Plus," She then smirked and glanced at me before saying, "We could see if Remcy's theory that Pandimala could get Megatron to surrender if they were stuck in a room together."

I shook my own helm at that and took a swipe at Tana while saying, "You're not as cute as you think you are Tan."

She laughed in turn as she dodged that. "Sheesh 'Mala, I was only repeating what Remcy always says." But, she seemed to lose her balance and she slammed herself into the door to the storage bay, which shot off of the main command room here.

Before I could ask if she was alright, all six of us jumped when we heard the sound of a soft yelp came from the storage compartment. Did another bot sneak aboard that we didn't know about? With the talk we had just been having about the Council, I was worried that whoever this was might be a spy for the Council and, even though we weren't Autobots anymore, this could be bad for future relations is we chose to have them with the Council.

We all fell into our batttle formation as Zarron, being the most agile among all of us, took the lead and moved quietly toward the door. Well, we wanted a start to our adventure here and, while this was a little sudden, it semmed like fate was going to do just that for us. I felt my wing tense as Zarron moved his servo to punch in the code for the room. We weren't sure what to expect when the door opened and I had to be ready to defend my friends. They had come with me into exile and I would protect them no matter what was thrown at us.

While I was ready for a few things to happen when the doors opened, one of the few things that I was not ready for was what happened. There, standing in front of the six of us, were two bots that I didn't expect to see glaring at each other like they were having a silent argument.

"Scorpi? Honeywhip? What the frag are you two doing here?" Tana asked in surprise as we made ourselves known to the two bots who were standing there.

Both seemed to be startled by Tana's voice and slowly turned their helms towards us and stared at us in surprise. Well, at least they did that for a little bit before Scorpi sighed and waved her servo at us. "So, I guess we got found out already. Hiya bots!"

My optics shuttered themselves a few times before I looked between the two of them and finally spoke. "What are you two doing here?" I then noticed a small detail that was different about the two of them from the last time that I had seen them. "And where are your Autobot emblems?"

That last part caused the rest of my crew to look at the two stowaways before Honeywhip decided to answer me. "Well, while this was not the way I wished for you all to find out about our presence here, I'm glad that you have." He then motioned to himself and Scorpi before saying, "Even though Balm and Remcy did not realize this, we were there when they told Ratchet and Casius, respectfully, that they were leaving with you; Pandimala." He then smiled and continued. "Casius asked Scorpi here to come with to make sure that somebot else that you all knew was here to keep an optic on you and I told Ratchet that I would come along to keep an optic on Balm for him. That old mech really does care a lot about you Balm."

"So," Scorpi picked up from where Honeywhip left off. "we separately arrived here and hid without you all knowing. We ran into each other when the ship took off and tried to stay quiet but whoever hit the door a bit ago scared me. I'm guessing I'm who you all heard?"

I nodded numbly at that, my processor still trying to catch up to the fact that we already had stowaways. Once it did though, I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, but I'm glad you are both here. The more the merrier definitely in this case." And it was. I had just been down, wondering what we were going to do, and I had been down about support and there were two bots who, while I counted them as friends, weren't nearly as close to me as the bots who I saw had been on here before we departed.

However, it seemed like Balm had another idea entirely. "You mean to tell me that you left Knockout and Ratchet just to follow after us?!" She then took out a wrench before launching at Honeywhip, who Scorpi promptly moved away from. While we all laughed, a thought came to me. Well, what was more accurate would be I started to wonder what the Council was going to react when they found out about what the others did.

Alpha Trion's 1st P.O.V.

I sighed as I listened to the session of the Council that I was currently at. None of it really seemed to be important right now. It was a wonder to me how they could continue going over regular solar to solar topics when the Council had just decided only a few cycles ago to turn away one of what used to be the Autobots' greatest assets. A triple changer was not the sort of bot that the Well produced often, and none since the Autobots had gained control of it from the Decepticons, and we had been afforded a prime opportunity to have a fully loyal triple changer femme that pushed herself and was completely focused on serving the Autobot cause.

And just because she had creators who were Decepticons, she was thrown out. I could not fathom what had caused enough Council members to vote for her removal from the Autobot forces. Was their pride truly ingrained that deeply into their programming that they would ignore all of the positives that having a triple changer Prime would have given us? Not only that, but she was also a compassionate and friendly femme that got along with many bots that she met, and I knew from personal experience with the femme, ever since she was a youngling, that she was fully committed to the Autobots and her loyalty was unwavering.

The only good thing that happened during all of this is that the rest of her friends went with her. Plus, if my sources were correct in what they heard, then two other bots who knew here, but weren't as close as...let's say Vox, was to her, had snuck along with the group. They were Honeywhip and Scorpi. While those two hadn't become as vital to the Autobots as most of the others that had gone with Pandimala, I knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before a topic was brought before the Council that involved one of those five bots.

Speaking on those two stowaways, Honeywhip and Scorpi, I found myself hoping that they were discovered by the others before something interesting happened. If they weren't, then that might cause some beginning voyage problems for the crew of the Estia and that would not be a good thing.

"Very well then," I focused my attention back to the meeting, momentarily, as it seemed like we were about to change topics. I was curious about what was going to be brought up. Dragstrip, who had spoken, continued to speak. "now we will take a look at our current intelligence reports about the Decepticon forces amassing near the Planet Chaar."

A small smirk played onto my faceplate before I let it fade. This was going to be it. That specific report that Dragstrip was talking about was actually a cooperative effort between the CBI, the CIA, and the scouting association to keep track of major Decepticon movements. And the top bots from each agency respectfully who were working on this specific report? Vox, Remcy, and Zarron. This was a high-priority topic that the Council had been trying to keep up to date on so we could make sure that the Decepticons were not planning any immediate strike against Cybertron.

Councilfemme Setback then looked toward the messenger before saying, "Go and fetch the bots responsible for reporting on this." She could have at least said please.

The young femme who Setback told to do that looked startled for a nano before nodding and running out of the doors. The only bot I felt sorry for what was about to happen might be that femme depending on what was going to happen. Now, Sturis or maybe Terazda Major could possibly be the ones to report it, which would make this easier on the messenger femme. As a representative for the CBI, I should probably give the report as well, but my place on the Council outweighed my need to be on the floor telling the others that Remcy, Vox, and Zarron, not to mention Balm, one of the most sought-after new medics, and Tana, the newest member of the Guardians, had given up being Autobots to follow Pandimala into banishment.

Plus, I knew that there was going to be scrap hitting the blades when this report was given.

When the doors to the Council chambers opened, I was glad to see that the femme messenger was followed by Sturis. I guess he drew the short straw between himself and Terazda to tell us this news. From the look that Sturis sent me, I could tell that he was already tensed for what was about to be let out. "Sturis? What are you doing here?" Botanica asked the mech curiously. I had not told her yet, though I was sure she was another one that had voted for Pandimala to stay, because it would look like I was trying to divide the Council if I told anybot else. Her surprise at the news that Sturis was about to reveal had to be as genuine as it would be on everybot else in here.

The leader of the CIA nodded his helm toward her before he finally started to tell the news that was about to set this meeting into a riot. "Members of the Council, the bots in question who were placed in charge of this cooperation between the CIA, the CBI, and the scouting association, were Autobots Remcy, Vox, and Zarron. However, they are no longer permitted, along with Autobots Balm, Tana, Scorpi, and Honeywhip, to access any information on the Autobots and, as a matter of fact, no longer even reside on the planet." He then stood a little straighter before he sent the most non-glaring glare that I had ever seen and spoke the fatal words. "As of a few cycles ago, each of the aforementioned Autobots resigned from the Autobot faction and followed the previous Autobot Pandimala into exile."

While the Council immediately started to yell about how some of the top young processors in so many different fields left the great Autobot cause, and similar notions, I noticed that the almost-glare that Sturis had when he said the news, had turned into a slight glare. I could understand his anger at the Council for a couple of reasons he might have. His first, from an intelligence point of view, mirrored my own in the fact that the Council had allowed the Autobots to lose a mighty advantage in the triple-changer Pandimala.

However, the one that probably hit closer to home for Sturis was the loss of both Scorpi and Remcy. While Scorpi's loss was not as large as the one by Remcy, she did work closely with Remcy on many projects and was a great intelligence bot in the CIA in her own right. Then, of course, there was Remy himself. A prodigy who continued to prove himself to his superiors, and had even almost lost his processor defending Autobot information from being taken by an internal attack, and the Council's decision had forced the young mech's servo into choosing between his job, which he loved, and his friend, which all of us who knew that group knew that he loved more. Sturis had just been robbed of a great asset because of the Council's decision.

As the yelling increased in the room, I quietly rose from my seat and exited the obviously adjourned session of the Council. They were only just now starting to see the consequences of their hasty action in removing the status of Autobot from Pandimala and banishing her. That was a problem with this current Council. They let their worry about their status overturn the common sense and logic of a situation.

Once I made it outside, I looked around before deciding that, honestly, I could use a good drink right now and I was sure that Slapjack's was still open for me. Not only Slapjack, but I was sure that a few of the bar's regular patrons would like to hear about the situation that had just unfolded in the Council chambers...and I was sure that Sturis would stop by when he was done in the Council chambers to talk to me about the future of Cybertron now that we had lost such important bots.

I was pretty sure that, if any of the Guardians were there, then they were going to be ecstatic about the Council realizing the blunder that had cost them their newest member.

Remcy's 1st P.O.V.

"What is going to happen when bots start asking questions? Ratchet is going to be placed on the front lines of those questions, but he is ready for that, but thanks to your thoughtless action Knockout is going to be right there with him!" Balm was still yelling and Honeywhip, who on his part was just sitting cross-legged and taking Balm's onslaught of yelling. "You know that Knockout has been looking into getting into politics! How do you think that your sudden departure from the Autobots is going to help him? He is going to have to find an explanation and then he is going to be pulled into the middle of all of this with Ratchet! I can't believe that Ratchet just let you come with like this!"

Sheesh. For a femme who used to be so shy and nervous that I thought she wasn't even going to make it through boot camp, she was certainly using those misused vocals for all that they were worth now. It had been three cycles since we had all discovered that Scorpi and Honeywhip had stowed along with us. Balm had to take a pause in her yelling before, though she had continued to glare at Honeywhip, when we were allowed to use the space bridge near Cybertron to transport to random, but safe coordinates that would put Pandimala far from the Council and Cybertron. From now on, of course, we were not going to have access to any space bridge and that meant that the rest of our travels were going to have to be made the good-old-fashioned way.

Honestly, with this whole situation with Scorpi and Honeywhip, I wasn't nearly as surprised as the others had been. Both Casius and Ratchet were older mechs, though I was sure that none of us would ever say that to their faceplates, and I knew that both Balm and I had become close to both Ratchet and Casius respectfully. They were going to want to make sure that we were going to be alright and sent another bot along with us that they knew closely. Scorpi and Honeywhip fit those bills. I was sure that, even if Scorpi and Honeywhip hadn't happened to be with each old bot in question when we had told them our plan, that the two old mechs would have asked them to sneak along anyways.

"You aren't mad at me, are you Remcy?" Scorpi asked me as the two of us worked on a monitor to sort the information that the ship had stored.

In response to her, I shook my helm. "No. I was surprised when I saw the two of you, but I wasn't mad. Honestly, I don't think Balm is mad either. She just gets really worried about Ratchet, and she is being worried about Knockout for Honeywhip. That's what she does." I then paused as the thought of our other friend came into my processor. "Scorpi, is Casius going to keep an optic on Blotto and his bondmate?" Blotto had become bonded about ten stellars ago to a very nice mech that was a three-wheeler and who worked as a messenger.

Thankfully, Scorpi nodded. "Yeah. Before he took off my insignia, Casius said that he would let Blotto and Flashsteel know about what was going on and he said that he would keep an optic on them."

That was good. While I knew that Blotto and Flashsteel were capable bots who could take care of themselves, the fact that they were our friends was going to make them targets to some when all of this slag about us leaving hit the blades. "That's a relief. Plus, I'm hoping that Blotto and Flash will keep an optic on Casius. Don't need those old femmes at the home trying to come and make him move there. Casius wouldn't survive a solar in a group home like those."

Scorpi let out a laugh at that. "He would probably end up offlining everybot there." She then seemed to pause, which made me curious, before she spoke somewhat hesitantly. "Rem, I know that I'm not as good of an intelligence agent as you are, but I want to be able to help Pandimala on this path just as much as you do." She then placed a servo behind her helm before she smiled and continued. "So I was wondering if you wouldn't mind training me while we are out on this adventure?"

I stared at her with surprised optics for a nano before I smiled and nodded. "I'd love to Scorpi. But, we'll have to start tomorrow. I think we've all had enough excitement without us crashing this new system because neither of us are familiar with it."

The two of us laughed at that before we continued to work in comfortable silence...well silence between us. Somehow, Balm was still laying in Honeywhip. How did that femme find so much to yell at her fellow medic for? I mean, he didn't do that much to deserve the wrath of the angry wrench-wielding medic. Once Balm backed off of the mech, then I would give him my support. Of course, that would be a long time after Balm backed off. I wasn't going to risk having that wrath turned on me. No thank you! I had enough experiences with wrenches thrown with deadly-accuracy at my helm.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" We all turned to Zarron when he suddenly said that, Balm even stopped yelling at Honeywhip, as Zarron seemed to dig around in his subspace. We all watched him in anticipation for a few nanos before he pulled out something that was wrapped in a cloth. Just what was that? "Ultra Magnus, after I told him about our plan, took me to this smithy shop and picked this up from the femme who runs it. Told me to give this to you, 'Mala, once we were all on the ship."

We all watched as Pandimala walked over to Zarron and moved to take the wrapped item. I almost let my intakes hitch as she hesitated just above the item. What was she doing? Was she nervous about what was going to be under there? Maybe she was just thinking about what it could be that Ultra Magnus wanted Zarron to give 'Mala that he couldn't give her himself? Now that I thought about it, I was curious about that too. What would be something that Ultra Magnus would have to have Zarron give to Pandimala because he wouldn't be able to?

Thankfully for my curiosity, I didn't have to wait long as Pandimala gently took the item from Zarron and opened it. My optics widened at what I saw was revealed. A branding prod that some used to mark their faction. But, the end of the prod did not show the Autobot insignia like it should if the leader of the Autobots had commissioned it. Instead, the shape on the end looked like the charm that Ultra Magnus had given to Pandimala when he had first dropped her off at Joint and Blockade's. Pandimala had shared that story with us a number of times, and each time she had, she had shown us the charm that he had given her. There was no doubt in my processor that was the same symbol on the end of the prod that was on the charm.

"That's a branding prod, isn't it?" Scorpi asked as we all moved closer to Pandimala.

In return, Pandimala nodded and looked at the prod while saying, "Yeah. I have a feeling that Ultra's been planning for this solar even longer than I have." She then let out a vent before she looked at all of us. "I know that we all just removed our Autobot insignias, and if you don't feel comfortable with receiving this mark that is your choice and none of us will hold that against you, but I am going to mark myself with this."

Vox shook his helm, to my surprise, before he took the prod from her. "No, you will not. Self, branding is dangerous. But," He then smiled before saying, "I would be honored if you would allow me the honor of branding you, leader of our new faction."

At his statement, my optics, and at least Pandimala's, widened in surprise and all of us but Pandimala took a step back in shock. Yes, we weren't Autobots anymore, but this was something else. I wasn't against it though, now that I was starting to think about it more. The Autobots had abandoned us, and our goal was to bring peace between the Autobots and Decepticons, so having a new faction to do that under would make that a more realistic goal. Plus, as I kept thinking, I liked the idea of following under the leadership of Pandimala. She definitely had a better processor on her than most of the Council did and she knew that we were all here to support her and guide her so she would make as few wrong choices as possible.

"A...I'm not sure...a new faction?" Pandimala finally got out staring between the prod in Vox's servo

In return, Vox gave her a knowing look before he spoke again. "Why not? We aren't Autobots, and I'm pretty sure we aren't going to be Decepticons. Plus, just being a neutral party is dangerous these solars. Being in a faction, even a new one, would help us gain ground if we are going to be striving for peace between the factions." he then turned on the brander and slightly held it out toward her. "And the only bot I would follow in a new faction is you, Pandimala."

I studied Pandimala as she continued to look between the now active prod and Vox. Instead of looking nervous, though, I saw that the look in Pandimala's optics showed that she was going through something deeply and logically. Her chassis was tensed to a point that she must be solely focusing on what Vox presented to her.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, she finally let out a vent before she smiled slightly. "Very well. But, I am not going to force anybot to take up this insignia and follow me. If you want to remain neutral, we will still keep you with us and consider you close. We will not abandon you even if you don't follow us." She then looked to Vox and motioned to both of her wings before nodding. "Do it."

He nodded and Pandimala braced herself as the prod was pressed against each wing. Hisses escaped from her as the prod connected with each wing, but she didn't do much more than that. After her brands were on, she took the prod back from Vox and looked at him carefully. "Are you sure Vox?"

"If I wasn't waiting for you to put that thing on my chassis, I would helm slap you for asking that 'Mala." Vox shot back at her. Pandimala let out a laugh, which caused all of us to smile, before she moved the brander toward Vox and placed the insignia on his right shoulder. He hissed at the contact but he stood strong. Typical Vox. But, I wouldn't expect less from him.

Well, I might not have been with 'Mala since the very beginning like Vox, Zarron, and Tana had, but I wasn't going to shy away from her now. "I'll be standing with you for as long as I'm online 'Mala." I stated to her before I walked up and motioned to my left shoulder. She nodded and placed the brander there. It was hard not to yell out when the brander connected with my shoulder. I was lucky to just let out a hiss as Vox and Pandimala had, and my mark wasn't even somewhere sensitive like 'Mala's wings would have been for her.

Once the brand was removed from my shoulder, I took some intakes to stave off the pain as Pandimala looked out to the others. To my surprise, Balm was able to speak up before Tana could. "Pandimala, you all have been so close to me, especially after my carrier offlined herself a few solars after our boot camp graduation." I flinched as Balm brought that up. It was a hard time for her and we had all come in to support Balm, but Pandimala had been there even more for her than the rest of us. "With all that you have done for me, not even Unicron himself would be able to stop me from taking up that brand!" To my surprise, she then motioned to both of her shoulders. 'Mala nodded at that and put the brand against both of her shoulders. I had no idea how she did it but Balm barely let out a hiss with each contact.

When 'Mala stepped back from Balm, she tuned to Tana, who was already in front of her. "If you think that there is any doubt that I would take up this insignia then I think Balm needs to do a few processor scans after I helm slap you to the Well and back a few times." She then pointed to the biggest star on her upper right arm. Pandimala nodded and placed the mark there. I was pretty sure that it was only because warriors beat themselves up so much that she didn't even let out a hiss at the contact. Just some dilation of her optics slightly.

Then, she turned to Zarron, who was giving her a knowing look. "Do I even have to explain myself? Just give me my brand already you blundering oaf." He smiled during that as he motioned to the area on his chest plate just above his flame decal. Pandimala smiled back at him before she took the brander and placed the mark. Not to my surprise, he let out a small yelp but didn't say much otherwise. With his armor being so light, it was slightly more sensitive, much like Pandimala's wings were, and so the brand would have put more pain on him then the rest of us besides our new leader.

Scorpi, ever the non-hesitating femme when it came to decisions, marched up to Pandimala and smiled. "While we were never as close as you were to the others, you are my friend Pandimala and I am that close to Remcy. I would follow his lead until the end of time, much like he would you." She then motioned to her right doorwing. Pandimala wasted no time in pressing the brand against Scorpi's backplates. To my surprise, the femme who I looked to as a colleague before yelped out loudly and jumped away, thankfully the brand had taken hold before she did. "What the frag? You all made it look like it was nothing! Frag that burned!"

Honeywhip let out a laugh as he stepped forward. "Come on Scorpi, besides Pandimala and Zarron, who has sensitive armor all around, they all got their brands in places that have higher pain limits. Your doorwings are some of your most sensitive armor places. Of course, it's going to sting at least a little."

Scorpi frowned at that and stuck out her glossa. "Hmph." She harrumphed like she normally would when she didn't have an argument against what another bot said. When I started her training, I was going to have to help break her of that habit. It didn't make her look as smart as she really was and would make other bots outside of us possibly disrespect her.

My focus returned to Honeywhip as he finally addressed Pandimala. "To be perfectly honest, if you were any other bot, War Trap, I would have not even bothered sneaking on board." Pandimala smirked at her old nickname being used before he continued. "But, I count Balm is a great friend of mine, and you have been an amazing friend to her. I hope that, in the future, we will be able to develop that sort of friendship as well." He then motioned to his left shoulder. Pandimala nodded and placed the brand there, causing the medic to let out a growl as he felt the burn that we all did before Pandimala moved the brand away and we stared at the last brand that would be placed for the solar.

Well, we were all in this together. That meant that, from now on, we were all a team and we would all have each other's backplates. Now, we just needed to get an adventure gone on together that would really solidify us as a team. All of us from boot camp had...well….boot camp and Honeywhip had a number of medical team-ups with Balm while Scorpi and I had worked on countless assignments for the CIA together. But, now we needed something that all of us would have as a memory together.

"We have arrived in the airspace of an unknown planet." We all jumped when the ship suddenly said this and so we all moved to our different stations there on the bridge. Once Pandimala placed the brander in a compartment on the bridge and stood at attention behind Vox since he was unofficially the flight captain, for now, the ship continued to give information on the scans of the planet. "Planetary composition appears to be comprised of ice, water, and dirt. No detection of life. Further scans are in process. Please standby."

Well, that was somewhat anti-climatic. But, hey, this was the first planet that we were arriving at. That meant only one option was available for us and, with a look at Scorpi, she knew exactly what that option was. We had to implement this a few times on different trips and we would make sure that it was implimented here.

Scorpi jumped right on the mission at servo and dug into her subspace, making Balm jump at her sudden movement. After a few nanos, she finally let out a cry of success before holding up a blank picture-holo before moving in front of everybot. "As Remcy knows, we had a tradition in the CIA that whenever we went to a new planet for us, we would always take a picture of the entire crew so that the new experience was always immortalized." She then waved the picture-holo to emphasize what she was trying to get across before she said it outright. "Let's get a picture of all of us with this new planet in the background."

We all looked at Pandimala as she smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "If you all are okay with it. I think it sounds like a great idea!" The others soon gave their own nods of approval and so we all gathered together as Scorpi placed the picture-holo on the station that was closest to the middle. Once we were all set, Scorpi gave the count. "Alright everybot, hold those smiles for three, two, one," She then clicked the remote activator and, soon, our images were on the picture-holo.

Thankfully, we all were able to take a decent picture and so, as Scorpi put it away, Pandimala smiled. "That was perfect. Now, we need to," She couldn't get anymore out as the ship suddenly surged forward and we all had to grab onto something.

"Unknown planet's gravitational pull exceeds the Estia's current gravitational resistance measures. Telemetry failing." The ship's systems suddenly spoke up.

"Scrap this isn't good!" Vox yelled as he looked at the controls. "I don't think we can pull out of this." He then looked at all of us. "Bots, get to the stasis chambers now!"

While we all hesitated at first, Pandimala stood next to Vox and spoke. "You heard him! Everybot, get to your stasis chambers now! Don't make me have to give this as my first order!"

Well, we had all just elected her the boss of us. It would probably be good to listen to her. "You heard her bots!" Tana yelled as she stood by the doors that would lead to our stasis chambers. "Follow me this way!" We all nodded and made to move to follow Tana.

Besides 'Mala and Vox, I was the last one to arrive at the doors. But, I paused when I saw that neither of the other two were making a move to follow me. I was about to ask them about it when Vox spoke. "'Mala, you need to get to your stasis chamber. I have the most experience in flying this ship out of all of us and I have to make sure that we don't burn up on entry and that we don't land somewhere that will damage us while we are in stasis."

Not to my surprise, 'Mala shook her helm and moved so she was standing next to Vox. "That's all well and good, but I am your leader and I won't be abandoning you while you are still out here trying to make sure the rest of us live. No bot left behind Vox."

The two shared a look before Vox nodded and moved to the controls. They had everything handled out here so I made my way back to the stasis chambers. When I arrived, I saw that everybot else had already gone inside of theirs. So, I went into one of the four empty ones remaining before starting the activation from the inside. AS my optics started to slowly dim, however, I found myself worrying. Hopefully, 'Mala and Vox would get inside their chambers safely.

No One's P.O.V.

The ship safely crash-landed on a field of white that spread out as far as could be seen. The occupants of the stasis chambers had no idea that thousands of stellar cycles would pass them by as they stayed in their state of suspended animation. The once dead planet that held no life would eventually grow to support many forms of life. One, in particular, would rise up above the others and become the dominant species of the planet.

This would be a species known as 'humans'.

Thousands of years later

It was a quiet night on the once nameless planet now known as Earth. Everything seemed like a normal night for the inhabitants of this world. That is, however, until a ball of fire fell out of the sky and impacted the earth below.

Not long after that event, a giant mass was seen heading toward a heavily populated sector of this planet. The mass looked like it was going to crash into the sector but, at what seemed like the last instant, this falling mass leveled out and crashed into the giant body of water that was settled next to the secotr. The night then returned to its seemingly normal state.

However, what no being knew, was that those impacts would be the cause of incidents on this planet that would change Earth forever.

Forty Stellars Later

Not that far away from a white plateau, two of the indigenous humans, both of whom were wrapped in layers of coats, huddled around a crevice in the ice. At first, it seemed like they were just standing there. But, at closer inspection, they could be seen shoving sticks of an explosive substance into the crevice to look for oil. This was going to be their last look before they headed back to their home-country.

Thanks to modern technology, as soon as they blew the crevice, scanners that were back at base camp would be able to see if there was any oil there. Once they were ready, the humans lit the charges and retreated a safe distance before they exploded the substance they had placed in the crevice. One of the humans held a communication device to its audio and was disappointed to hear that they had not found anything. So the human told the other human and the two walked back to base.

What they did not realize was, by setting off those explosions, that they would awaken a force that was currently unknown to this world.

Tana's 1st P.O.V.

"Fragging glitching creation of the Pit that hurt!" I complained as I became more conscious from the induced stasis I had been under. At first, I had been slowly waking up, like the program was supposed to do on these fragging chambers. But, then I had jumped at the sound of something outside of my chamber and had hit my helm. That caused me to forcefully come more out of my induced stasis than I had been.

My helm ached slightly when there as a sudden knocking against my chamber before a familiar set of vocals were heard. "Tana, you online in there? Everybot else is already out here and it isn't fair to them that you are hiding in there." Zarron. I was really going to offline him.

Well, if everybot else was already out of their chambers, then I had better go out there and see what is going on. I pressed a few things on the inside of my chamber before my door opened and I stepped out. Once I got my bearings, I looked around and noticed that, like Zarron said, I was the last one out.

"Hey everybot." I then winced as the pain from hitting my helm in my hit me again and I put my servo on the spot of the pain.

"Are you alright Tana?" Pandimala asked me with a concerned look on her faceplate.

In response, I nodded before saying, "I got startled when I woke up and hit my helm on the chamber. The pain will go away soon."

A sigh coming from next to me caused me to turn before a certain two-wheeler with a big mouth started to speak. "Why doesn't that surprise me any Tana? If your helm wasn't attached to your shoulders you would ahve already lost it." He then shook his helm with a smirk.

"Zarron I'm going to tear you apart!" I growled in a challegne before I lunged at the scout and tackled him to the ground. I swore he did this just to get under my plating but I was goin to avenge my honor.

But, we didn't get to roll around for long before I felt a familiar sharp servo grab my arm before picking me up and away from Zarron. Looking at my previous opponent, Vox had taken the roll of getting the scout away from me. Well, that was fun.

"Come on you two," Vox started, "we need to figure out what has happened since we have been in stasis here before we see if our ship is even able to fly us out of here if need be."

Well, when he put it like that… "Fine. I guess we can have a truce for now Zar, but this isn't over."

Zarron, in return, smirked at that. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

Everybot shook their helms at us before we moved to the bridge. It felt like we had been out for quite some time. "How long were we out anyways?" Scorpi asked as Remcy started up the ship's systems.

It didn't take Remcy long to give an answer to that. "A couple million stellars. Not terrible all things concidered really." He then typed a few more things in before saying, "The ship, however, seems to be stuck in this ice. It'll take us some time to actually get it out...if that is the way we want to go."

All of us looked to Pandimala for that answer. She seemed to be staring at the screen in front of Remcy for a few nanos before she shuttered her optics and smiled. "We are supposed to be having adventures. Let's hold off on repairing the ship and see what this world has to offer us."

"Computer," Zarron started. "show me all of the different landscapes that this planet has."

The monitor in front of Remcy then seemed to spring to life on its own as images started to flash across the screen. White covered mountains, green plains, dry deserts, thick forests full of organic plants; this planet was much different than it had been when we had crashed here those millions of stellars ago. As these images and more flashed on the screen, the computer spoke. "When the Estia crashed, it crashed into the side of a plateau of ice. This planet, now called Earth by the local inhabitants, is dominated by a bi-pedal organic species that call themselves 'humans'. Their social structures seem to mimic those of Cybertron and the species itself seems to be an equivalent of Cybertronians except that these organics do not have the ability to 'transform'. However, there are many different styles and shapes that these humans can come in." The screen then flashed different images of these organics.

"Well frag, looks like we have to go and do some exploring now." Scorpi said with a smile. All of this looks like a lot of fun." She then leaned closer to the monitor we were all in front of before saying, "Estia, find the top places for us to explore that would give us the most benefit in learning about the species please."

I watched as the monitor seemed to be sorting through millions of pieces of information. Just how much information did the humans have stored? While that normally wasn't my thing, this was a lot of information that we were seeing that that was important. That much I did know no matter what Zar would say.

After a few minutes, the computer let out a ding before it continued. "The location of six important locations that should help garner more information about this planet have been selected." The monitor then listed six places on its screen as it spoke the locations. "The Pyramids of Giza, location Egypt. The Colosseum, location Rome. The Great Wall of China, location China." That one seemed a little obvious. "Niagra Falls, location United States of America. Charleston, location United States of America. Sumdac Tower, location United States of America."

So, we had six places that the ship felt we should visit, and there were eight of us. How were we going to do this? When I looked to the side and saw that Pandimala seemed to be thinking, I held off on saying where I would like to go. We had to give Pandimala the chance to act as our leader and that meant I had to let her choose where we go and who we go with. If she plans like she used to during our battles against each other, then she should be able to send each of us to a place that we will all enjoy.

After a few more clicks, Pandimala looked up at all of us and smiled before saying, "I think I know what we are going to do." She then motioned us all around the monitor as she started to assign different locations to everybot. As she spoke, I knew that this was going to be exciting.

Vox: So, this is the planet we crashed on. From the little we know, I'm excited to explore this place.

Remcy: *nods* Same here. I am curious about where Pandimala is going to end up sending each of us.

Authoress: Well, we will see. But, I think each of these places would be interesting to go to.

Zarron: *walks in* I agree with Authoress. All of these locations look like fun.

Scorpi: *curious* So...where are all the bodies the rumors said were here.

AN: No words. Here is the update! Definitely long overdue, this chapter is. But, I hope that it was worth the wait. Instead of having the twins come along, as the original had, I thought that I would shake things up a bit and have Scorpi and Honeywhip go with instead. Plus, this will give the new faction two medics right off the bat instead of just one. Next chapter will have the group splitting up and exploring the different places that I have picked. Each place was carefully...well, I just picked the places and added the Sumdac Tower to help move the story along a little.

That's all I really all I have to say for now. So, here are the titles for the upcoming chapters:

Chapter 13: A History Not so Different

Chapter 14: Welcome to the Club

Chapter 15:...Find out next time! XD

And that is all that I need to put. Please review, even to say hi, and I will appreciate it. Until next time though, TTYL! *thinking of chocolate*