Some cycles later they were back on the bridge, still feeling weaker then they would have liked, but much improved than they were. Hound was still sore but had regained his mental composure. Sideswipe still cast a wary optic on him, not sure if Hound could be trusted to not lapse back into guilt and self doubt. "You know, on the positive side, drifting dead in space could work to our advantage."

Hound looked at Sideswipe, slightly incredulous. "And how do you work that one out?"

"As far as those fraggers are concerned, we're dead, we could find a way to use this."

Hound's finger poked at the dead console. He gave a low growl in frustration. "I don't think they do believe we're dead." His hand balled into a fist. "Do you know what Starscream did before the war?"

Sideswipe shook his head. "I was too busy trying to turn his afterburners to slag to engage in polite conversation."

"He was a scientist," Hound said, ignoring Sideswipe's mild sarcasm. "They've got Skids and Jetfire, again both scientists. And if I'm right, they've taken Perceptor."

"What's that got to do with us being alive still."

"Whatever they hit us with, it took out us and the entire ship in one attack. If they wanted Perceptor alive, whatever they used had to be strong enough to knock out all on board and our own systems, but not damaging enough to kill. The whole point is, our systems were disabled, not damaged." He paused for a while, thinking. "They knew where we were. Everything we did was a waste of time." The realisation unnerved him in ways he couldn't express. "Why would they wait until we got this far? Why not stop us while we were still grounded?"

"Fun." Sideswipe said simply. "Let them think they're achieving something, then take it away from them. The tactic serves two purposes. One, they're twisted slaggers who like inflicting suffering on others and two, if we know we're up against something bigger we can't cope with, we learn to, and fight harder. This way, we think we can do this, then they take it away. Chip away at hope and leave us defenceless." Irritation grated at him. "If the guys are right about who we're up against, nasty pieces of work aren't they?"

Hound's shoulders slumped. Sideswipe, not wanting to see a return of Hound's earlier mental state, changed tone slightly. "But hey, since when has underhanded tactics like that ever worked against us?"

Hound resisted replying with 'now' in favour of continuing trying to piece everything together. "They don't really see us as a threat. It makes sense. The lack of security, not attacking us and taking Perceptor before they did. Leaving us here alive." Bitterness crept into his voice, partly at the possible insult, partly because he thought they might be right. "They really don't see us making any difference at all."

Sideswipe gave a derisive snort, grinding a fist into the palm of his other hand. "Shows what they know then."

"I don't know. They seem to have it worked out pretty well. They've got what they want and we're drifting like scrap in space still none the wiser to what's actually happening." He walked over to the only console that showed any sign of life, the lights flashing irregularly. He looked at it thoughtfully. "What have we got?"

"Not a great deal. Communications are down, the engines are completely offline, all ships sensors are almost completely shot. We've minimal power to the recharge chambers and I would have thought the ships central computer is in a similar state as they're the most protected areas of the ship. Other than that, we've got enough energon to last maybe a third of a deca-cycle providing we don't throw any celebrations."

"I though we were lower than that."

"If we still had Perceptor and Hoist and a functioning ship, it would be a serious problem." Sideswipe gestured towards the screen and Algol 3 in front of them. "So, do we hope that Springer and his mob notice us? Or do what is it that humans do when stranded…a message in a glass receptacle?"

"A message in a bottle." Hound corrected. "That only possibly works when surrounded by water. I don't think that method would work in space." He smiled thinly. Then mentally chastised himself for not thinking of it before. "Is the shuttle working?" He set off as fast as possible to the damaged bay, hoping.

Sideswipe caught up steadily keeping pace with Hound as he raced down the corridor. "Whatever they used blew out everything. I doubt the shuttle stood up to it."

"I have to check. The blast they used to blow the bay doors out wasn't the same as they used to disrupt ships systems and us. The shuttle was at the furthest point from it, we may be able to use it still."

Hound rushed into the bay and over to the shuttle, checking it for external damage. It didn't seem to have any that was obvious to he jumped into the cockpit, trying to get some like into the controls. After several tries, he brought his fist down on it in frustrated anger. "Work, damnit!

Sideswipe joined him, sitting in the co-pilot seat. "It was a good idea, but you knew the chances were slim," he said softly.

Hound turned his head, a determined look in his optics. "We don't have the time or enough power to get the Secutor up and working. I will get the shuttle running."

Sideswipe regarded him carefully. "What are you planning on doing?" He sounded suspicious, he wished he could put Hound's erratic behaviour down to his circuits being fried, but he knew it wasn't. He was more than familiar with the behaviour of someone on an obsessive course.

Hound was busy working on the panel in front of him. "I'm going to get Perceptor and the others back," he said without looking up.

"Hound, if we manage to get off this slag pile, we need to find Springer and the others."

"Go if you want to. I'm going to find them."

Sideswipe grimaced. "How far do you think you'll get? If you get to them how do you plan on getting three unconscious bots outta there. Four if you really want to save Screamer's sorry hide."

Hound stopped but still refused to look up. "I have to do this, Sides," he said quietly. He looked up. "After all the fuss you made over Sunstreaker, I would have thought you'd understand. I know he's your brother and there's a bond there I don't fully comprehend, but Perceptor, Skids, Jetfire…they're friends. I can't leave them."

Sideswipe gave a mirthless laugh. "You think I wanted to rescue Sunstreaker's sorry hide because he's my brother?" He relaxed back slightly. "Of course you would. There's never been a reason to think otherwise." He smiled at the quizzical expression on Hound's face. "I'll let you into a secret, knowing I probably shouldn't as you were my commanding officer, but frag, if it helps you see sense…here goes." He gave a slightly defeated look and plunged in, still not certain this was the wisest move he'd ever made. "I wish I could express some noble sentiment, that I was doing it for him. But I wasn't.

"Sunstreaker gave me a lot of flak, always the rookie and never good enough, that was me. But to cut a long story short, I never rescued him for him, it was to prove to him once and for all, that I wasn't a rookie, that I was every bit as good as he was." Sideswipe waited for the backlash. Once he would have though Hound was as soft as gold but he was starting to learn that Hound could be as hard as Hardhead at times.

It never came. Hound just laughed. "You gave me all that hassle just so you could prove a point?" He shook his head. "The pigheadedness of you and your brother never ceases to amaze me sometimes."

"Pigheadedness?"

"It means you're obstinate to the point of being totally unreasonable. In all that time on Earth, did you ever talk to a human?"

"Not if I could avoid it." Sideswipe said honestly. "Nothing against them, just not interested."

Hound went back to the open panel. "I know what you're trying to do, but it's not going to work. It's my turn to be pigheaded. Please, don't argue with me," Hound said as he saw Sideswipe's mouth open to protest. "I'm responsible for Perceptor, it's down to me. If you want I can drop you off on Algol."

"I'm coming with you."

Hound sighed. "Thanks, but you should go with Springer and the others."

"Hound, now I do think your circuits are fried."

"They're not. I might get given commands, but you're forgetting my primary function is as a scout. I'm used to infiltrating enemy territory. It's what I do."

"Okay, so you've got a point there. But I think you need me."

Part of the control panel flickered weakly to life. Hound smiled triumphantly. "Side's, nothing personal, but you're a pain in the aft. You barely follow orders, your idea of stealth tactics is to kick a door down rather than blow a hole in it. When it comes to infiltrating a base, I need you like I need a siren stuck on my back."

"Hey!" Sideswipe feigned a hurt look. "We did okay last time."

Hound was going to point out Sideswipe kicking door down may not have helped their cause but decided not too, if nothing else, because it might not have effected anything for all he knew. Instead he settled for telling Sideswipe to make himself useful.

Handing Hound the pulse wrench he'd asked for, Sideswipe tried again. "Look, if this was any normal infiltration mission I might agree with you. But as you said, they seem to know everything we do anyway. Which means you'll be fine until they decide you're an annoyance. In which case, you're going to need some heavy guns."

"That's why I'll be contacting Springer."

"Springer won't be there quick enough if you run into trouble."

"Why is it so important you come wit…" Hound didn't finish the question. "Forget it. Fine, just make sure you follow orders."

Hound was searching the Secutor looking for anything that could be salvaged to use for the shuttle. He'd left Sideswipe in the bay looking at ways to divert power from the recharge chambers to the shuttle. His mind kept wandering, to how he was going to achieve his goal, how to get communications up and running, how to, how to, how to…too many questions and not enough answers. One of the less important but more prominent questions that kept sneaking to the front of the queue was Sideswipe. It bugged him, as he wasn't even sure what the question was. As determined as he was, to say he wasn't jittery at all about what he was about to do would be a lie. It wasn't because he genuinely believed Sideswipe would jeopardize the mission, it was…he finally decided he didn't have an answer so pushed it to the back again and concentrated on his current objective.

Finding all he could that would be of any use to him, he returned to the bay. He stepped over the thick power cables laid across the small amount of spare floor that were feeding the last remaining power of the Secutor into the shuttle. "Most of the ship is useless. Fried," Hound said ruefully. "I've managed to scrounge up a few things."

Sideswipe poked his head out of the shuttle door. "Good, if you've got something that will replace these," he handed Hound some heavily damaged components, "because the communications are shot."

Hound checked though and gave Sideswipe the parts that looked most suitable. "I don't know if they'll work, 'Sides, pretty much everything from communications to Perceptor's holo-chess is wiped out. I can't get exacts, so we'll have to make do."

Sideswipe went back into the shuttle with the replacements, then two nano-kliks

Later poked his head out again. "Perceptor plays holo-chess?"

Hound nodded. "He picked up chess on Earth. Apparently it helps him think."

"Figures. Though I thought he'd play something a little more…complex." He went back inside.

Hound wasn't sure if the emphasis was Sideswipe insulting Perceptor in his normal choice of pastime, or an insult at human games for being too simple. Either way, he made no reply and started working on the shuttle.

The Secutor was cold. Not that either of them was particularly bothered, but even though they could both survive the vacuum of space without protection for a while didn't mean they found it that comfortable. The Secutor was now completely without power having all been diverted to the shuttle, but the shuttle wasn't ready to launch yet and wasn't big enough to house both 'bots comfortably when they needed a break.

They sat in the dark of the rec room, taking an opportunity to stretch out a bit, the only light the glow of their optics. Hound's alt mode hadn't changed since he'd first arrived on Earth, but Sideswipe had insisted that Hound should conserve energy, even dim headlights weren't really necessary, it wasn't like they couldn't see at all.

Hound was feeling more positive then he had since the attack. He was fast coming to the conclusion that his initial despondency was largely to the frying of his circuits, though he knew Sideswipe was sceptical when he'd tried explaining this to him. Now he was back on a more even level, he thought through his initial plan again. "I need to talk to Springer. I'm not happy with the idea of taking a detour to Algol 3, but if we can't get communication back up…" he let the sentence hang.

"As much as I hate to agree with you," Hound could hear the smirk in Sideswipe's voice. "It's probably the best course."

Having agreed on a course of action; at least in the short term, they left to go back to the shuttle bay. As they entered, Sideswipe hurried over to the hole in the back of the room. "Hound! Get over here!"

Hound crossed the room standing at Sideswipe's shoulder, looking at where he was pointing.

"Are my optics still glitching or is that moon moving?"

Hound looked closer at AT2. "No, there's nothing wrong with your optics, that moon is moving." Hound looked at it in disbelief for an astrosecond as he and Sideswipe scrambled for the shuttle. Whatever was happening, both realised that whatever time they thought they had, they didn't.

"We need to get to Springer as fast as possible," Hound said as Sideswipe tried to coax the shuttles engines into life. He concentrated on trying to keep himself focused on finishing up some connections inside the access panel rather than the irritating sound of Sideswipe's dental plates grinding in frustration as the other 'bot attempted to put more effort into what he was doing rather than cursing. He tried opening a comm channel to Springer, but it was dead. This gave him two concerns. Was it just the communications from the shuttle that were fragged or had the Wrecker's run into problems too?

He tried to ignore the possibility of the latter. Just as he was about to stick his hand into the access panel the engines fired.

"Yes! Lets get this show on the road."

"Springer. I think we might have a problem."

Springer crossed over to Broadside. "What is it?" He looked at Broadside's readouts and the subtle unnatural change in AT2's orbit. "What the..? Broadside, I want to find out where that's headed and how fast."

"On it."

"Hot Rod, see if you can get Hound for me, find out what he knows." Not waiting for an acknowledgement he turned to Twin Twist. "Take Top Spin with you and get everything battle ready. Tell Hoist to help with the finishing up work on the EMN's."

The team moved with a fluid ease, waiting for the battle they believed was coming.

"Has there been any news?" Ultra Magnus stood looking out over Iacon from the window in Prime's office.

"Nothing yet. To say the situation isn't concerning me would be a lie."

"And the Senate?"

Prime's expression remained neutral. "The Senate see as they did before."

Ultra Magnus turned to face Prime. "I know it's not my…" He cut off at Prime's raised hand. He spoke again. "I've not seen the Iacon Memorial Park since it was finished. I've been remiss is paying my respects to old friends. I would be grateful for the company."

Prime nodded genially. "I've not been there myself for a while. I think it's about time I visited again."

It didn't take them long to cross from the building into the large memorial park that had been put in place in respect for the lives lost during the war. They walked along the wide light coloured path that ran alongside a row of sculptures, each carrying names of those now gone. The sculptures bore no physical likeness to the autobot they represented, they were abstract shapes. Made more to convey a sense of the personality and emotional likeness to those they represented. They stopped near to one that was almost bland compared to those around it, it's straight lines and clear angles giving off a sense of purpose, a path well thought out and firmly followed.

"Prowl," Ultra Magnus said as he looked at Prime who stood contemplating the shape before him. It was an unnecessary statement. The logical, unerring sense of direction it seemed to have spoke well of who it was made for.

Prime nodded softly. "Even now, I still rely on his logic and clarity of thought." He turned his head slightly toward Magnus. "I find just standing in the presence of his memory focuses my thoughts."

Magnus smiled softly. He respected Prowl as an officer, but even though as Prime's second in command, Magnus had frequent communication with Prowl, it was always straight to the point. They never served together in anyway that allowed for acquaintance beyond a mutual respect for a fellow comrade. "He was an outstanding officer and a credit to the Autobots."

Optimus' optics glowed warmly. "He was indeed, and a good friend." He paused and looked back at the memorial. "I just hope he can continue helping me through difficult times."

"Sir?" Ultra Magnus was unsure at what Prime was referring to.

Prime turned from the sculpture completely and back to Magnus. "The Senate rules Cybertron justly. Now the war is over, my role has changed."

Magnus was still not sure he followed what was being said to him as they continued to follow the path again. "Your importance to Cybertron, and the Autobots is as important now as it was then, Prime."

"In many ways, I would agree with you, Ultra Magnus."

"What's going on, Prime? First the Wreckers are being held accountable for crimes they haven't committed." Ultra Magnus' voice betrayed his disgust at the Senate's stance. "Now they're refusing to look into an incident that could be condemning more 'bots to a death sentence."

Prime slowed his already gentle pace. "We don't know that for certain, Ultra Magnus."

"We do when it comes to the Wreckers."

Prime looked tired. "I know. I've tried bringing it up with the Senate many times, but they are determined to look through clouded optics." The expression on Ultra Magnus' face mirrored what he felt. Concern, frustration, even a touch of anger. "I believe they are scared."

"What of?"

"Peace is a fragile state. We all deal with the difficulties of war in different ways. When we are faced with war, we fight to defend what we believe is right. Many of the Senate were never fighters. Politics attracts a different personality."

"They want power but are not prepared to fight for it," Magnus muttered quietly.

"I am not accusing the Senate of cowardice, Ultra Magnus," Prime said softly. "Just of being a different mould. The Wreckers represent a time they would rather believe is over and will never happen again. I wouldn't say they are unaware of the dangers that may be out there, but they wish to be blind to them."

Ultra Magnus shook his head. "This is the 'enlightened rule' we all risked our lives for? Don't they see that by turning a blind eye to any problems they start the whole process all over again?" It pained him to see Prime look so torn.

"I will stand by the Senate that serves Cybertron and its people."

Ultra Magnus looked at Optimus Prime, the gravity of that simple statement weighed on him, though he knew not as much as it Prime himself. "So, what now?"

"We wait."

Hound looked out of the shuttle window to the dead husk of the Secutor receding away from them. It was a blow to lose the ship especially at a time when a fight might not be avoidable. It was small, but it had been built to be good in a fight. Algol 3 was some kliks away, but they'd been fortunate Secutor's drift had taken them closer to the planet. They loosely discussed ideas and strategies for getting their bots back for the duration of the short journey.

The planet was equally as desolate and bleak as its moons. The only real difference between Algol 3 and AT2 was the air flow was less harsh in comparison. The ground was the same dull colour but without the metal fragments. Sideswipe manoeuvred around a large boulder and set the shuttle down next to the Wrecker's large craft.

Once inside Hound brought them up to speed on what had happened. The news of Perceptor's probable capture was met with dismay from the team. Springer had been left alone with Hound and Sideswipe, discussing their options. Sideswipe, though still committed to the idea of helping Hound rescue their guys, he was relieved that Hound seemed to have got over his earlier lapse of confidence and foolhardy idea of trying to rescue Jetfire and the others without help. He hoped he was wrong and it was just Hound's bad reaction to the sentries frying his systems, though there was still an edge to Hound's attitude he didn't entirely trust.

Broadside chose that moment to enter, interrupting conversation and Sideswipe's thoughts. He looked agitated. "We've got big problems."

Everyone was on their feet. "What?" Springer barked.

"I've finally managed to break through the interference on the readings and probe deeper scans into AT2." He saw Springer's impatient look and decided to get straight to the point. "AT2's not a moon, Springer. It's a ship."