"The city's falling," Hurricane said quietly.

Orion bowed his helm.

He shouldn't be here.

He shouldn't be safe in this tower, listening as this tragedy unfolded.

There should be a way to fix this, to change it, to prevent it. Orion wished he could travel back in time and stop Elita and the others from going to Vos.

It had been another trap—if Jazz was correct about where that message had come from, they'd played right into Megatron's hands.

He could still feel Elita's fear. She was still there—perhaps trapped somewhere in the city, likely with Ironhide, Prowl, Moonracer, and the others.

If they died, the Autobots would lose.

If Elita died in Vos, Orion would die too.

The bond that had saved him from his kidnappers earlier that very orn would kill him.

"We're going to die," Red Alert said quietly. "We're all going to die." His voice increased in pitch with every word. "Everyone on this entire planet is going to die!"

"Excuse me?" Chromia said, rounding on him.

"The city," Red Alert said. "When the city hits the ground, it'll cause massive trauma to the internal workings of Cybertron, and huge quakes, and we're in a fragging tower! We have to get out of here!"

"Does it really matter?" Chromia demanded. "This is it. It's over."

"No," Orion said. "It's not over yet."

He felt Elita's anxiety spike, and then there was a sort of sick sensation in his spark that was like floating and falling all at once.

Chromia met his optics. "Yeah," she said, voice trembling. "I think it is."

They were falling—falling with the city.

"Actually…" Jazz said. "The news is sayin' the city's not falling all that fast. I mean, it's tearing itself up as it goes, so there's pieces falling off, but the main mass of the city's still being supported by a few of the engines. They ain't gonna be able ta save it, and it'll still probably cause quakes, but there's no way we'd feel it all the way over here, and even if we did it wouldn't be for a couple of—"

"Ironhide…" Chromia squeezed her optics shut. "…He's falling…"

Orion felt Elita apologize over their bond. She was terrified. Primus, this couldn't be happening. He didn't want her to die.

He didn't want to die.

"Optimus?" Ratchet said, and the horror in his voice told Orion that he understood.

"What?" Jazz said.

Suddenly, everything changed. Orion felt a moment of relief over the bond, then disorientation, then pain, then finally a sensation of stability.

Chromia let out a shaky laugh. "Oh, Primus…" she said.

"What?" Jazz said. "What happened?"

"He's all right," Chromia looked like she was trying not to cry.

Orion took in a deep vent, trying not to let his relief overwhelm him too. Most of the mecha here didn't know about his bond, and he had to keep it that way.

He glanced around the room. The mecha replacing Elita and Prowl looked frightened, Mainspring looked closer to horrified, and Red Alert was curled up in his chair, muttering to himself.

"My friends," Orion said, and they all turned to face him. "We can't let this turn into another Decepticon victory. We must tell the world what truly happened. We did not sink Vos, nor would we do something so reprehensible. You all must begin to spread the word. Tell your departments, our soldiers, the news, and anyone else you can think of that the Decepticons are responsible for this orn's tragedy."

"What if they don't believe us?" Accord asked.

Orion remembered something Yoketron had said to him once. "Wise mecha will see through Megatron's lies, and those are the mecha we want on our side."

He received a comm. and answered immediately. "Ironhide. Are you all right? Is everyone all right?"

The room went silent as everyone waited with Orion for Ironhide's answer.

"Yes… I mean, no. Dion and a femme from Elita's department are offline, and Prowl probably ought to see a medic, but… other than that we're fine."

Orion shuttered his optics, not sure how to respond.

"And we need a bridge, as soon as you can get us one." He sent Orion a set of coordinates.

"Mainspring, they need a groundbridge to return to Iacon."

Mainspring nodded, and Orion forwarded him the coordinates.

"What's wrong?" Ratchet demanded.

"Two mecha from Elita's department are offline," Orion said.

"How?" Ratchet demanded.

"Who?" Accord whispered.

"We can ask them when they get here," Orion said. "For now, I would like all of you to spread the word…"

Vos was falling.

Prowl knew it wasn't his fault, but he had played a role in that fall. It had been Vos or Orion—that had been the choice. There hadn't been time for him to save both.

Someone knelt in front of him, and Prowl looked up to see Elita—hand extended, offering to help him to his pedes.

He took her hand and let her pull him up and guide him to one of the benches that lined the sides of the transport.

His doorwings picked up the sound of a groundbridge nearby, and a few moments later, he felt them go through it. He shuttered his optics and focused on venting regularly as the shuttle flew them down in a slow arc.

Just like Vos was sinking down toward the flat plains between Tarn and Doradus.

He accessed the public databases and started listening to the news. The city had picked up some speed now, and would hit the ground within two breems.

Prowl un-shuttered his optics, and saw that the shuttle was about to land out in front of Mirage's tower. He braced himself for when it touched down, but even the relatively gentle bump as it hit the ground hurt like pit. They exited the shuttle and headed into the tower in silence. Moonracer had an arm around Elita's shoulders, and Ironhide looked almost as shocked and defeated as the femmes did.

Even the short distance from where the shuttle had landed to the tower drained what energy Prowl had left, but he forced himself to walk it.

He deserved the pain. He was supposed to be smart enough to figure out how to get out of situations like that. He hadn't initially thought that the Decepticons would be capable of making good on their threat. He had assumed the engines that had kept the city afloat would be heavily guarded. But perhaps the seekers were too used to peace.

They made it to the elevator and Prowl leaned against the wall as it started going up. The feeling of acceleration as they ascended wasn't exactly pleasant.

"We should have brought their frames back," Elita whispered. "We just left them there…"

"We didn't have time," Moonracer's voice replied quietly.

Silence fell. Prowl wished this was over, but it wasn't. He had work to do. He'd gotten everything done before he'd left, hoping that he could come back and rest, but now there was this Vos fiasco to clean up.

Not everyone would think the Autobots had destroyed the city, but most of the world probably would. They had to get the truth out as quickly as possible. Elita would be the one to do that, but Prowl needed to stay online and alert in case they needed him for anything. It had been his voice, after all, that had delivered the ultimatum to the seekers.

The elevator stopped and Prowl flinched. He'd get some rest eventually, he promised himself. The doors opened, and half of the mecha in the main room rushed toward them as they stepped out of the elevator. Orion wrapped his arms around Elita, and Chromia stomped over to Ironhide. She looked as if she'd like to start yelling at him until he pulled her into a tight embrace as well. A femme in the room—someone from Elita's department—buried her faceplate in her hands with a quiet keen. The sound sent another wave of shame washing over Prowl. He should have found a way to prevent this—to save the city, to save those mecha from Elita's department... He had been trying to stall, hoping Ironhide would show up… but all he'd accomplished was to get more mecha offlined.

"By the Allspark, Prowl, you're covered in energon!" Ratchet said.

Orion and Elita backed away from each other and looked at him.

"None of it's mine," Prowl said. He didn't think he'd ever forget the weight of that dead femme leaning on him, or the feeling of her energon dripping down over his frame. He hadn't dared to look at her—he hadn't wanted to see.

Ratchet rushed over anyway, and started trying to scan him. Prowl backed away, but the medic grabbed his arm. Their optics met.

"Ratchet, may I talk to him first?" Orion asked.

Ratchet glared, but backed off just far enough to hover threateningly.

"Prowl."

"Optimus, I am so sorry," Prowl said. "I… it was either Vos or…" He couldn't explain, not with mecha here who didn't know Orion and Elita were bonded. He looked into the Prime's optics, hoping he understood.

"No," Orion said. "Do not apologize. I know you would not have done what you did if it wasn't necessary."

Prowl bowed his helm. Mecha would think he'd done it to save himself. In actuality, if it weren't for that bond, he might have refused Megatron's demands. He might have watched all of the others offline. It would have destroyed him, but he would have been willing to do it, because giving the seekers a reason to join the Decepticons was not an option.

"I am the one who should apologize," Orion continued. "You are still recovering from your injuries and I disregarded that when I sent you in my place. Please forgive me."

Prowl raised his helm again, surprised. "Orion," he said. "I am glad it was me. It's so much better this way. Imagine if it was your voice speaking those words they broadcasted in Vos."

The room went silent.

"I will want to know what happened," Orion said quietly, "But Elita can tell me. You should rest."

"I have work to…"

"Oh for Primus's sake," Ratchet closed the distance between them and scanned him again. "You can either come to my office or I will knock you out and drag you on."

Prowl didn't even have the energy to argue with him.

And he had to admit, being unconscious right now would be very nice.

"Soundwave, we are returning to Kaon, victorious."

I leaned back against the wall and subspaced the datapad I'd been writing on. I'd managed to get all the files off of it, but they didn't include much useful information. Nothing that I didn't already know. "Acknowledged," I said to Megatron over the comm.

Then I looked across the room into the high security cell that was currently occupied by the Autobot spy.

Mirage looked back at me, proud and unafraid. He'd been surprisingly good at keeping information from me. Of course, Jazz had given him some tips about that. I had gotten some useful knowledge from his mind, but probably not enough to satisfy Megatron.

"You're running out of time," I told him.

"Oh?" he said. I thought you said you had plenty of time to sit there and ask me questions so I could ignore them.

"Megatron is re-eturning," I said. "He has less patience."

I knew Mirage would understand. I hadn't touched him. He was stasis-cuffed, but unharmed so far. If I didn't get all the information he had, Megatron would let some of the mecha from Quantum have a try and that would be significantly less pleasant for him. I, of course, didn't plan on sticking around for that, so it wouldn't affect me much. But Mirage ought to have been worried.

His glare intensified and he started running through random, memorized lists of facts again. He did it to keep his processor occupied so he didn't accidentally think about any important Autobot secrets. Mirage, being who he was, knew many more Autobot secrets than he was supposed to.

I shrugged and got up. The Autobots wouldn't last long now anyway, with Vos turned against them and Orion offline.

This plan had troubled me at first, but I had accepted it eventually. The faster we destroyed the Autobots, the fewer mecha would have to die.

I still couldn't help wishing that Megatronus had been made Prime instead of Orion. He wouldn't be like this if he'd just gotten the title he deserved. His anger about that injustice was driving him to do things I knew he never would otherwise.

I checked the news. Vos had fallen and the world was in uproar. The Autobots were already trying to explain what had really happened—some of them must have escaped. Also, Prowl had been the one to threaten the city, not Orion. So apparently not everything had gone as planned.

Prowl wasn't even supposed to be alive, according to Blackangle's assassin.

I'd have to ask about that when Megatron returned.

I walked past the other high-security prisoner, who sat, as always, calm and silent. His optics followed me as I exited the room.

We were moving soon, into a place with more secure cells. Megatron wanted to call the building he'd chosen "Darkmount." For him, it was a pretty good name.

I went to wait in the command center. He returned presently, and then a few breems later, the seekers who'd gone with him came in. Starscream sent Skywarp to look for Thundercracker, though. Apparently, the third member of their trine had been in Vos and had figured out what was going on.

That was unfortunate.

"Soundwave," Megatron said. "It is time. Send a message for me, to the Vos Council."

I nodded, to signify that he could start talking and I would record.

"Seekers of Vos," Megatron said. "I am deeply sorry for the tragedy that you have suffered this orn. Even I did not believe the Autobots capable of such evil. As their reason for attacking you had to do with our communications, I feel somewhat responsible for this great calamity. As such, I must offer you my aid. I will make accommodations for any of your mecha who wish to stay in Kaon. I can provide housing, energon, medical care, and anything else you might need, at no cost and with no strings attached. Please consider this gift as reparations for any part I may have unwittingly played in the sparkless destruction of your home."

I sent the message to all the members of the Vos Council, and it was less than five breems before we received an answer. I played it for him to hear.

"Thank you for your offer, Megatron," the Grand Councilmech's voice said. "We would be grateful to reside temporarily at Kaon. However, the assistance we truly require is not lodging, but revenge for the wrongs that have been committed against us. In the interest of destroying the Autobots, we will gladly make an alliance with you."

"You know," Blackangle said from the side of the room. "I almost didn't think this would work."

Megatron sat down on his throne, suddenly annoyed. "It's a good thing for Starscream that it did work." He shot the seeker a glare. "We almost lost everything when the wrong Autobots showed up. And it seems they escaped too… Ah, and Blackangle, your assassin was lying. Prowl is alive and well."

"What?" Blackangle said.

"I will leave it to you to punish him. Now go get some places ready for the seekers to stay. Spare no expense—they will be our honored guests. Clear the top three floors of all the skyscrapers for them, and let them into Darkmount as well, or wherever they want. We might need to send some of them to Tarn if it gets too crowded here."

Sends me off like some sort of errand mechling, Blackangle thought. I will need to have words with Makeshift, though. If Prowl really isn't dead, that's one more thing I have to worry about after I get rid of Megatron. He left the room, and my range.

"Now," Megatron said. "Has anything of note happened while I was away?" Has Blackangle decided whether he's going to make his move yet?

"I apprehended an Autobot spy," I said.

"Oh," Megatron said. "Who?"

"Mirage."

"Mirage… I remember him. The noblemech." He nodded. "Have you managed to extract any information from him?"

"Some," I said.

"Do you believe there is more he could tell us?"

I hesitated, then nodded.

"Now that I'm back, I need you to work on other things. Comm. Blackangle and tell him to have his mecha entertain our guest." He should break easily—he's a spoiled sparkling. Though I'm surprised you didn't get everything from him already.

"Starscream," Megatron said. "I need you to help with the preparations for the seekers. Think of anything they might want, and make sure it's there for them."

"Gladly," Starscream bowed. "Though there's something else I need to deal with first."

"And what might that be?"

"Thundercracker is… well, he has gone missing." I know where he is, but I need to go talk to him, and make sure he's not going to do anything stupid. I don't know what will happen now that he knows what we did. Why did he have to follow us to Vos?

"Thundercracker? Didn't you already send Skywarp to look for him?"

"Well… I'd rather do it myself." Come to think of it, I shouldn't have sent Skywarp. What if Thundercracker convinces that weak-minded fool to desert?

"Your first priority is the seekers from Vos. I want to make a good impression on them."

"But…"

"Now!"

Starscream flinched, then sighed. "Of course, Lord Megatron."

He left.

"So," Megatron said to me. "What did you learn from Mirage?"

I handed him a datapad. I had already written up all of the information I had learned from him.

Well, most of it. I had omitted one thing. It seemed that Blaster was under the Autobots' protection, though they hadn't drafted him into service. I knew his location now, but I didn't want Megatron to recruit him either. It would be better for everyone if Blaster stayed out of this conflict. It would be better for everyone if Megatron didn't even find out Blaster existed.

He read all I'd written, then sighed. "There's not much here that we don't already know."

"No," I admitted.

"But you say you think he knows more? How was he withholding information from you?"

"He was distracting himself," I said. "Ignoring my questions. He even tu-urned his audios off for a while so he couldn't hear what I was asking."

Megatron nodded. "Perhaps you should attend his interrogation. I'm sure it would be more fruitful if you did." I wonder what his reaction to that suggestion will be.

I desperately did not want to do that.

"I can see your reluctance," Megatron said. I'm not really surprised. Nor am I particularly upset. I remember a time when that sort of thing would have bothered me too. But the question is, are you willing to do what I asked? And do you still feel a sense of loyalty to those you once considered friends? "Is it because you knew him personally, or just because you aren't used to watching anyone get hurt?"

I had a better excuse than that. "My abilities."

He studied me thoughtfully. "You would feel whatever he felt."

To some extent, yes. I nodded.

And it wouldn't make much sense to have Soundwave there if his range wasn't covering the spy. Very well. "That is unfortunate. I suppose we'll have to hope Blackangle's mecha can get him to talk. If they can't I might have to ask you to make a sacrifice for the cause."

I looked down.

Of course, I don't want to lose his loyalty. "But only if they fail. I have no desire to ask so much of you…"

I nodded.

"Then again, we all have to make sacrifices." He was feeling almost sentimental now. I could hear the Searchlight in him, for the first time in a while. "It is terrible, what we did in Vos. It will give us a great advantage, but there is always a cost." He took in a deep vent and stared directly at me. "That is why I will win this war. Because I am willing to pay that price and Orion is not. He never was. He thought he could change the Council instead of removing it. But the only thing that does is give them more time in power to kill your allies off one by one. The way of violence is messy and destructive… I suppose you could say it has already destroyed me. But it is the only effective way to fight the oppression, and I am willing to do anything in pursuit of that goal."

The absolute conviction behind his words brought me back to those orns, back in secondary school, when we'd been fighting bullies together. The stakes were higher now and so was the cost. And he wasn't the same. He was right—his chosen path was destroying him. But the mech he'd been before was still in there—the one who loved adventures and hated bullies and cared about his friends more than anything else.

He was still in there.

And Breeze had said there might be a way to bring him back.

"Soundwave, I am deeply honored to have you on my side, working with me. You are a better mech than the rest of us and yet, though you must understand the price we pay more than anyone, you are willing to pay it."

Sometimes he was so close—so close to noble, so close to sane, so close to Searchlight.

"And I trust you," Megatron said. "There is no one else here who I can trust. I could not do this without you."

I bowed my helm. I did not always agree with him, but I had failed him once, vorns ago, and I would not fail him again.

"Let me know if I ask you to do something you are not comfortable with," Megatron said. I value your loyalty and I don't want to damage it.

I nodded.

The ground shook beneath my pedes, and I steadied myself against a desk until the quake passed.

Hundreds of klicks away, a city had hit the ground.

Megatron ignored the quake, putting thoughts of Vos's destruction from his processor. "Now," he said. "There is much to do. Blackangle—has he decided when to make his move?"

"Not yet," I said. "But soon. Once you capture I-Iacon, for certain."

Megatron nodded. "Keep an optic on him."

That might be difficult, since I didn't have optics.

"How about Thundercracker?" Megatron asked.

"It might be good to-o find him."

"Will you take care of that?"

I nodded.

"I also need you to monitor the Autobots' reaction to what happened in Vos. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to kill anyone important while I was there, so their command element is still intact, and I'm certain they will try to blame the fall of the city on us."

I nodded.

Megatron went back to reading the report I'd written up and I went to my computer. I'd go find Thundercracker as soon as possible. I was worried about him—almost as worried as Starscream was. I hoped I could convince him to stay loyal, because otherwise he might end up dead.

Part of me still questioned. Megatron was powerfully charismatic and in a way his words rang true. But I wasn't so sure about this "cost" of his. I hoped this war didn't go on too long, because it was no use saving the world if you destroyed it in the process.

I could only hope that Breeze figured out how to restore memories before it was too late.

Jazz shuttered his optics and tried to think of anything he'd forgotten. The last few joors had been busy for everyone. They'd put the real story out there. Some mecha believed the Autobots and some believed the Decepticons, but everyone knew how serious this was. Vos had fallen—literally fallen from the sky. This wasn't just messing around anymore.

Of course, while Jazz was keeping an optic on the public's reaction to the whole fiasco, he had other things to worry about.

Megatron had been in Vos, not Tesarus. And Soundwave hadn't been in either place. As soon as Jazz found that out, he'd gone back and read Mirage's report again. Aside from the obvious false information, there were subtle clues that the mech who'd written it wasn't actually Mirage, which meant that the noblemech was probably a Decepticon prisoner.

Jazz needed to rescue him as soon as possible, but he couldn't just try to sneak into the Decepticon base and hope for the best, like he wanted to. He needed a plan.

He had to get some other things done first anyway. Operating under the worst-case assumption that the Decepticons now knew everything that Mirage knew, he needed to change passwords and move things around. And it was frustrating because Jazz wasn't sure what Mirage knew or didn't know. It was hard to be certain of that when the noblemech could listen in on whatever he wanted.

Red Alert was helping with the security side of things, and Mainspring was working on plans for a rescue attempt, which would coincide with their plans for rescuing the Autobot soldiers…

But frag, that wouldn't be for a few more orns.

Mirage should be okay for a few orns, right? They had Soundwave, so there was no need to torture him for information.

Jazz shuttered his optics and realized how tired he was. Why did all of this have to happen in the middle of the fragging off-cycle? He should probably get some recharge, because he needed to be on top of things next orn. But not until he'd figured this out.

What else? What else had Mirage known?

Mainspring commed him and he answered immediately. "Hey, mech."

"I think your idea will work, though it's risky. I've talked to Hound about it and he says it's possible. But we'll need to plan a route for him, and another one for the Autobot prisoners."

"Okay." Jazz could ask Prowl to help with that.

"Hound will also need to meet with you prior to the mission," Mainspring said. "Of course, he would anyway."

"Yeah," Jazz said. "I should be able ta talk ta him early next orn."

"Good," Mainspring said. "I'll let him know."

Jazz cut the comm and looked up at the ceiling.

"Hang in there, 'Raj, we're coming," he said quietly, to the empty room.

Thundercracker had expected Starscream or Skywarp to hunt him down, but it was Soundwave who landed on the roof beside him.

The lanky mech sat down and silence stretched out until Thundercracker couldn't stand it anymore.

"I suppose you knew," he said, "About Vos?" He glanced over to see Soundwave nod, then looked out over Kaon again. "Doesn't that seem… wrong to you? They just tricked the seekers into joining the Decepticons, and destroyed a whole city-state. Mecha offlined.

He'd tried to contact Andromeda and Tealwing, but they hadn't answered. Andromeda lived close to one of the engines that had exploded. Close enough that she and Tealwing could have been killed by it.

"Starscream chose his path," Soundwave said in a flat, emotionless voice. "So did you. It's too late to turn around."

Thundercracker shook his helm. "No." It wasn't too late, was it? Was it? Could he leave now? He didn't want to abandon his trine, but Starscream had gone too far. He'd orchestrated the downfall of his own home, killed his own mecha. "They're completely insane." Surely Soundwave could see that. "How can you… How can you just ignore that?"

"You ca-an't leave," Soundwave said.

"What are you going to do to stop me?" Thundercracker said. "Kill me?"

Soundwave was quiet for a while. Then he shrugged. "There are worse things," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Soundwave stood and pointed toward the building off to the side of the base, where Shockwave's temporary lab was.

Shadowplay, and whatever else that mad scientist was working on. Thundercracker looked up at Soundwave's screen. He'd liked this mech. They'd been friends.

And now here Soundwave was, threatening to have him brainwashed. Had the mech always been like this, or had he just changed?

"I will know," Soundwave said. "If you try to leave or betray us." His voice was still flat and emotionless. "This is a warning."

Thudnercracker felt a chill down his back.

He had no doubt that Soundwave could make good on all of his threats. So he sighed and looked away. "Fine."

Soundwave transformed and flew off, leaving Thundercracker to think it over. He could fly away right now. Maybe they'd hunt him down, bring him back, kill him or worse. But maybe he'd be able to hide. If it weren't for his trine, he'd be gone already.

For now, he should stay, though. He should at least try to bring Skywarp with him if he was going to leave.

But where would he go? There was no home to return to anymore. He couldn't go back to Vos. He couldn't go to the Autobots—he doubted they'd take a former Decepticon in. He didn't know anyone else. In all likelihood, the seekers would be staying here now, in Kaon.

He didn't have anywhere else to go. And if he tried to tell anyone the truth… no, the other seekers wouldn't listen.

Maybe some time in the future, if there was a good opportunity, he'd run. He'd find somewhere to hide—somewhere safe from both sides. But right now, he only really had one option.

Elita watched the sun dome light up, marking the beginning of the on-cycle. Of course, from Mirage's tower, you could see the sun skimming around the horizon all orn long, only blocked occasionally by the other towers.

She was exhausted, physically and emotionally. She'd barely had a spare moment since coming back from Vos. At this point, she was too exhausted to even grieve for her friends, and for that beautiful city.

She needed a break. She just wanted to recharge for a few joors. But in a few breems she'd have to go back inside and get working again.

Something moved beneath her, catching her attention. She looked down and saw that it was actually several somethings circling up the tower toward the top. They went out of view around the side, and she watched for them to come around again, suddenly worried.

When they came around the tower again, they were close enough she could tell they were seekers. She backed away from the edge, comming Ironhide as she did so.

"Yeah?"

"Seekers. There are five seekers approaching the tower!"

She was too late to run for the door. She could only watch, backing up against the glass windows of the tower as they came over the railing and transformed to land in front of her.

One stepped forward. "We want to talk to Optimus Prime," he said.

The door slammed open and Ironhide and several of Red Alert's security guards burst out, weapons ready to fire.

Elita could tell the seeker was afraid, but he took another step forward and to the side, moving to stand in between his companions and the Autobots.

It put him at an angle where Elita could see the insignia on his shoulder.

"Leave now," Ironhide growled.

One of the other seekers made as if to pull something from subspace, but the one in front held up a trembling hand to stop his friend and repeated his request. "We want to speak with the Prime."

"I'm sure you do." Ironhide raised his cannon.

"Wait!" Elita stepped forward.

"What are you doing?" Ironhide growled. "Elita, get inside."

"No," Elita said. "They're Autobots." She turned to face them. "You want to talk to Optimus?"

"I said get back inside! Now!"

"Yes." The seeker said softly.

"Why?"

"Why do you fragging think?" Ironhide said. More mecha were coming out onto the balcony, and the seekers were looking even more nervous. If she didn't do something, someone was going to start shooting, and this would end badly. That was the last thing they needed—dead seekers on the balcony of their base, or dead anyone.

No. No more death.

She rounded on Ironhide, fully aware that she was turning her back on a potential threat, but she'd seen something in that seeker's optics and she didn't think he was here to kill anyone. "Stand down!" she said.

"You can't…"

"I don't care who's higher on the chain of command, I will NOT let you shoot at mecha who have come here to talk until we've at least talked to them. Put your guns AWAY! There's been enough killing."

Ironhide glared at her. She sent him a private comm.

"If they attack us, I'll apologize. But we can't have dead seekers here, not after what just happened in Vos."

"I'll put my guns away if you step away from them."

"I will hold you to your word." Elita replied.

She met his optics, then turned and backed away toward the window again. Ironhide lowered his guns and put them away, and he must have sent a comm. to the others because they did so as well.

"Thank you," Elita said, and turned to look at the seekers. "Now, why exactly do you want to talk to the Prime?"

They still looked nervous, and the mech in front was still trembling slightly. "We don't know who to believe," he said. "We wanted to talk to the Prime, to ask him personally…"

"But if you want us to leave," one of the others cut in, "We'll go join the rest of the seekers in Kaon."

"Elita, you've already walked into one trap in the past forty joors," Ironhide said.

She ignored him. "I assumed any seekers we had would have deserted."

"All but us," the seeker in charge said.

Seekers tended to go with the crowd, especially their own crowd. She had to admit, this seemed unlikely and suspicious. "Why didn't you go?"

"We want to do the right thing," he seemed a little steadier now. "We thought we'd made the right choice when we joined the Autobots. Even if we decide to leave we won't be joining the Decepticons." He shot a pointed look at the mech who'd spoken out, then turned his attention back to Elita. "You claim it was them who sank Vos and that they blamed you for it."

"Yes," Elita said.

Another one of the seekers spoke up. "We wanted to offer you a chance to convince us of that."

"You can't just show up here," Ironhide said.

"We tried going through the proper channels," the first seeker said. "But we didn't get very far."

"I apologize for that," Elita said. "We've all been incredibly busy." She held out a hand. "I am Elita One."

"Silverbolt," the seeker in front said, and shook Elita's hand cautiously.

"I am certain Optimus will be glad to speak with you." She released his hand. "However, if you attempt to harm him, mecha will be lining up to kill you and you'd better hope I'm not the closest one. Understand?"

Silverbolt looked more nervous again. But he nodded. "We aren't here to fight anyone. We just want to find out the truth."

"So far, you haven't been very welcoming," one of the others muttered

"Slingshot," Silverbolt hissed.

The other seeker glared, but didn't say anything else.

Elita commed Orion and waited for him to respond. He was probably in the middle of something.

"Wait here," she said. "I'll work something out, and Optimus will talk to you. Everyone else, inside."

"Thank you," Silverbolt said.

Elita walked past Ironhide and into the tower. Chromia approached her. "What are those seekers doing here?"

"They're Autobot seekers," Elita said. "They just want to talk."

Chromia looked just as skeptical as her sparkmate had been.

"It's all right," Elita said. "We'll have them come in here where they'll be outnumbered. And besides, I think I believe them. There's something honest about them." About Silverbolt, at least. He almost reminded her of Orion, in a way.

Orion finally answered her comm. and she explained the situation to him. He promised to be there in another few breems, so she went back out on the balcony and invited the seekers in. They didn't seem too happy about coming inside the tower, but they filed in and stood in tight formation just inside the door.

The rest of the room was quiet and everyone seemed on edge as they waited. Elita was unpleasantly reminded of the tension in that little room in Vos where Megatron had offlined two of her friends.

But then Orion came in. He looked almost as exhausted as he felt. She hoped that would help the seekers believe him.

Silverbolt stepped forward slightly and bowed. "Optimus Prime," he said.

"You wanted to talk to me," Orion said. "Please, feel free to speak."

Silverbolt looked down, then up again. "This past off-cycle, we were sent to Vos. We weren't told why. We fought our own mecha for several breems before we heard that message. And then we were told to retreat, but of course, we might have done that anyway at that point."

Elita could feel Orion's sorrow as he listened.

"And then we watched," Silverbolt said. "We watched our home fall from the sky."

Orion met his optics.

"We trusted you," Silverbolt said. "I had heard the rumors, but I didn't believe them. I was careful and checked my sources and looked for the things that you'd actually said, and had actually done. You wanted non-violence. You'd never attack, only defend. That's what I thought, at least. And I don't understand. I don't understand why you or the Decepticons or anyone could do something like that, but I need to know. Optimus Prime, did you destroy my home?"

They stared at each other for an astrosecond, and then Orion knelt before the seeker, bowing his helm. "If I could have done anything to prevent what happened, I would have," he said. "Please believe me. If I had known what Megatron was planning, if I had been prepared… but I was not. As a Prime, protecting the mecha of Cybertron is my responsibility, and I have failed you and your city. I cannot ask for your forgiveness, but I can ask you to believe me. Neither I nor any of my commanders authorized the sinking of Vos, nor would we ever do such a thing, not for any reason."

Silence filled the room. Orion stayed on his knees.

"It was the Decepticons," Silverbolt said.

"It was the Decepticons," Orion replied. "The mech who made that threat was Commander Prowl, but he was under duress, and we had nothing to do with the explosions themselves. I know that's little, if any, comfort…"

Silverbolt took in a deep vent and let it out in a huff. "I believe you," he said.

Orion stood again. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Avenge Vos," Slingshot said. "Destroy the Decepticons."

"No," Silverbolt said. "We… We still want to do the right thing, whatever that is. I can't speak for my friends, but I will stay with the Autobots."

Orion's optics were sad. "You may be fighting your own mecha before too long."

Silverbolt nodded. "I know. And like I said, I can't speak for my friends. But I'm... resigned to that."

Orion nodded. "Thank you. I am grateful that you came to talk to me."

"So am I," Silverbolt said. "Though I apologize for taking up your time. With your permission, we'll leave now."

Elita watched as the seekers walked back out the way they'd come. Silverbolt hesitated at the railing, but then vaulted over the edge, transformed, and flew away. The other four followed his lead.

"Well," Elita said, once they were gone. "I'm glad I didn't let Ironhide shoot them."

"I still don't think we should have let them do that," Ironhide said. "We can't just let mecha show up and demand to talk to Optimus."

"Under the circumstances, they had a right," Orion said. "And we don't have time to argue about it now—we all have work to do."

Yes, they needed to get back to work. Elita went to her station. She could put off recharge for a while longer.

Notes:

1. I'll post a spare parts chapter about the aerialbots next Tuesday.

2. Thanks for reading!