Author's Notes- Yes I know. It's been months since I last updated. Life throws things at you when you're not prepared and I've had a few things thrown at me since then. I tried to work on my stories in this time but I wasn't in the mode or had the motivation to do it. Hopefully this chapter will appease you all for my absence.

(Moonmist)

I could feel my friends' just stare in shock as I worked on the computer. We hadn't thought that Sentinel would be able to survive this long. I brought up semantics and reports, hoping they would tell me of how this could've happened.

(Cheetor)

"Moon Rhinox said that Sentinel wouldn't have been able to sustain himself this long without a steady power source."

"I know. That's what I'm hoping to find out." Her claws danced across the keys as she put in hundreds of codes in a matter of minutes. The screen finally stopped as it showed a hologram of the ARK and our base. A small, green line connected the two of them together. It became clear to us all how this happened.

"Teletrann-1 kept Sentinel going this whole time."

(Optimus Prime)

My men and I watched as the small shuttle landed gently outside our base. Most of them were very skittish with these femmes coming. It's been so long since they've interacted with femmes. Especially the femmes on the shuttle. As the ramp lowered and a tall pink form came down I let myself relax as my mate's optics met my own. The smile she gave me made my spark flutter.

(Cheetor)

Dirt rained down on us as the ground above us shook. Something was going up there and I was anxious to find out what. I turned to Moonmist but she was already typing away at the computer. Blackarachnia was at her side trying to figure out how to hack their way through to Teletrann's security cameras. Once the link was established we were greeted with the sight of several important femmes.

"Optimus called for the femmes. I don't believe it. He's trying to see if Elita has seen any of us before."

"This might actually be a good thing."

We all turned to Airazor. Something in my little sister's optic made me pause. That look was something she had to have learned from Moonmist. She uses it all the time when someone pisses her off too much.

"Airazor have you been taking lessons in being evil from Moonmist again?" Wrong thing to say Tigertron. She turned her head to glare at him and putting her hands on her waist.

"Is there something wrong with taking those kinds of lessons from her?"

"Absolutely not my fair lady. But I was just saying that…..that maybe you…..that…?"

"Stop before you get hurt Big Cat. Now Airazor how is their arrival beneficial for us?"

She smiled at me before pointing at the screen.

"Look what they arrived in."

Looking at the shuttle that the small group of femmes just left I noticed it was a good sized one that could fit us all. I turned to my mate and noticed she was smiling now as well. Something tells me that our departure might be a little more difficult now.

"You guys can't possibly be thinking about stealing that shuttle. Aren't you thinking about all the things that could go wrong? I'm honestly more afraid of stealing their shuttle then the Decepticon's shuttle."

Moonmist gave me a smile that sure was meant to reassure me but actually filled me with dread before turning back to the screen.

"Don't worry Cheetor. We are just going to borrow something on the shuttle for a few minutes."

"We are so screwed."

(Optimus)

Walking down the halls with Elita by my side I almost forgot the reason why I called her to come here. I cherished every time she came to Earth but this time was just for business. I headed to the rec room hoping that the beast warriors had returned. I was very disappointed to not find a trace of them. They had used our mass panic to slip away just like they had told me several days ago.

"I take it they disappeared huh?"

I rubbed my face before turning to her and finding humor in her optics.

"This isn't funny Elita. I was hoping for you to meet them and hopefully tell me something about them. They said they would be able to slip away without alerting us and I was hoping they were just yanking our chains but I can see it was a bad part on my judgment."

She patted my arm before looking around the room with Hound who was trying to trace where they went. When she pointed to the security cameras I shook my head.

"I think Moonmist messed with them because one moment they are just sitting there and then static appears on the screen. When it finally fades they are gone without a trace."

She nodded before going back to the walls. No fur, feathers or scratches to even show they had been in this room. They were planning something and it was gonna happen very soon. I hoped to catch them before it happened.

"I got something!"

We both turned to where Hound was crouched by a vent. He turned back to us with a large grin.

"They are good, I'll give them that. I don't know how but they were able to put the screws back in but they weren't turned. We just to check the videos to see which ones they took over or caught them leave the vents."

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least we found a start. Hopefully it would be enough that we caught up with them.

(Moonmist)

"This is completely insane you do know that right?"

I turned to where my mate was. He was looking very nervous as we stared at the ship. The very same ship that belonged to Elita-1. I was now getting the feeling my friends were feeling. This would probably be the stupidest thing we had ever done. We had all heard the stories about Elita-1. She was one femme you didn't want to cross.

"This is the best way to do this guys. We can hide our tracks using their equipment then on the ARK. We only need 5 minutes. I know we can do this."

My friends all looked at me before slowly nodding their heads in agreement. I felt the pressure in my spark drift away. We had seen Elita, Chromia, Firestar and Moonracer go into the ARK but I was unsure if she had brought anyone else. We would have to be quick to escape Red Alert's cameras.

(Arcee)

I watched the screens while twirling myself in my chair. It was so boring by yourself on the shuttle. I had been hoping to see this planet or even meeting some of the crew but my orders were to stay here and watch the shuttle. Nothing ever happened when you had to watch a shuttle.

(Blackarachnia)

It had taken valuable time sneaking on this shuttle while avoiding all cameras, whether they were Red Alert's or the shuttles. Finding the bridge wasn't as hard as we thought but a wrench was thrown into our plans when we found out the shuttle wasn't completely empty. The pink figure sitting into the chair made us all freeze. We knew Elita had gone inside the ARK so this could only be Arcee. A fearsome fighter later on in the war. This situation would need to be handled delicately.

Too bad Moonmist doesn't do delicate.

I was always amazed watching Moonmist or Cheetor moved. One moment they would be in one spot and then the next they were someplace else before you could blink. I don't Arcee even knew what hit her before she was out. I knew we had to work quickly so I didn't give her form another glance before patching into the terminal.

(Moonmist)

I always hated the jobs where I needed to harm my own comrades. Even though I have never worked with Arcee or even knew her I still felt uneasy about taking her out. When I heard the confirmation beep I put Arcee out of thoughts for the moment. This needed all my concentration at the moment. The whole reason we had snuck onto the shuttle had been to use the long range scanner. We needed to see if any of our friends were closing in on Earth. This shuttle also had a private transmitter. The ARK wouldn't be able to catch unless they knew we were trying to connect to them.

"Anything yet?"

"Almost there. Just a few more moments."

We all held our breath as we waited for the screen to appear. When it finally did we started breathing and smiling at each other before a gasp from Blackarachnia made us turn to the screen again. When I realized what I was looking at my spark decided to fill itself with dread.

(Optimus)

After going through every camera recording we had after losing the Beast Warriors I knew we had most likely lost them for good. They appeared on none the cameras and we didn't even know if they were still on the ARK. I felt thoroughly embarrassed now. I had called the femmes hoping they could identify them and we lose them right as they arrive.

"Prime we got a situation!"

I let go of my emotions and turned to Ironhide as he ran up to me with Chromia behind him, looking distressed. Elita immediately went to her side trying to calm her down. I turned to Ironhide knowing my mate she would listen in while taking care of her best friend.

"Chromia and I had gone to the shuttle to let Arcee go relax and we found she had been attacked and the computer and scanners had been used on the shuttle. We weren't able to figure what they were doing because everything was wiped clean."

"Are there any sign of Decepticons in the area Red Alert?" turning to my security officer.

He shook his head as he looked away from his screens.

"No Decepticon signatures have been noticed all day. Then again we've spent most of the day looking for the Beast Warriors…."

I wasn't the only one who noticed him going quiet. I didn't like the look in his optics but before I could say anything he immediately turned back to his scanners and started typing away again at a very rapid pace. Before anyone had a chance to ask what he was looking for he leapt out of his seat and turned to me with a crazed look in his optic. I sent a private message to Ratchet in case Red had another breakout.

"I TOLD YOU! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TRUSTED THEM SO QUICKLY AND NOW IT'S COME TO BITE US IN THE AFT!"

It took us at fifteen minutes before we could calm him down before he blew a fuse. Once his little rant was over he showed us a recorded of outside. It was hard to tell but each of us could immediately see the Beast Warriors sneak onto the shuttle. I felt my spark fill with dread as they left very quickly and heading north at a very rapid pace.

Shouts and exclamations rose seconds later and I just stood there and listened to it. As my men asked for retribution and justice I went over everything I had talked about with Cheetor and Moonmist. Every time I was around them I felt nothing but reassurance faith coming from the Matrix. I had no reason to think they would cause us harm. Something about this situation didn't sit right with me.

"We need to go out and hunt for them before they reach Megatron and spill all our secrets to him." I heard Cliffjumper shout out.

"In case you weren't watching the video they headed north not east where Megatron's base is at. All the evidence we shows they hate Megatron just as much as we do." Jazz was the one to answer Cliffjumper's declaration.

"You know it could all be an act Jazz. He's done it before. We haven't found any existence of these Cybertronians yet. They could some kind of mutant experiments of Shockwaves." Smokescreen commented.

"I refuse to believe they are Decepticons. After we saw the way they interacted with those children and all the damage they've done to the Cons. You guys are just looking for ways to call them Decepticons." Hound replied. I could see he wasn't happy with what everyone was saying. I wasn't surprised considering how he got along with them, especially Tigertron. Mirage was one of the few who wanted nothing to do with them.

I listened to all their complaints and arguments before putting it all to an end.

"Enough."

Even though I never raise my voice it always astounds me when they all go quiet when I talk. Mouths were shut as all optics locked onto my form. I waited until every Autobot was watching and waiting for my opinion because they all knew my word was law, whether they liked it or not.

"I will not send any scouts or hunters after them." I raised my hand when complaints rose up they stopped just as quickly. "Until we know what happened in that shuttle I will do no further action. I feel we see them again soon. I have yet to feel any warning whatsoever from the Matrix when I am near them so I feel no need to treat them as criminals. We have no proof that they attacked Arcee and from what I saw on the video as they left the shuttle they looked very scared, like they found something. Moonmist has my personal comm. Link code so if she needs any help or to send a warning, and I know she will, I will not do anything to harm or help them unless they asked.

"They have made friendships here and I know that some of you enjoy their company just as I do. I refuse to believe they have done anything wrong unless someone has proof of some wrongdoing. We will watch and wait and see what they do but I will allow any accusations about them being made. Understand?"

Mumbles and murmurs rose from the crowd. Prowl frowned before stepping forward.

"I believe your Commander asked you all something."

"UNDERSTOOD SIR!"

I nodded my head before watching them all leave except the Officers. Some left with smiles, others with frowns but most were with uncertainty on their faceplates. I only hope they took my words to heart and didn't do anything that might cause us trouble in the future. I turned to the ones who had stayed behind. All four femmes along with my four officers.

"I'm not asking you to follow my lead. You all have your own opinions and I will respect them but I still feel I can trust them as much as I trust you."

"At the moment Prime, I can think of them as innocent until proven guilty. I will not say anything against them but I will not say anything for them either. Not until I talk with them myself and gather all the facts." I nodded my head. I expected no loess from my SIC.

"I refuse to believe they do anything to harm us sir. Not after everything I've seen them do. Especially with those little kids." I smiled at my TIC. His opinion was one of the most important. As Head of Sp. Ops his trust and faith in others always mattered in situations like this.

"I still think they are the ones who hurt Arcee and if they are then I will be the one to punish them Prime. Like Prowl said, innocent until proven guilty." Ironhide hasn't changed in the millennia's I've known him. He's stubborn, blunt and to the point.

"I'm not for against them Prime. I have my own thoughts and I will keep them to myself." Ratchet doesn't like thinking bad on anyone so I'm not surprised with his answer. It was the femmes I was worried about. It was one of their own who was attacked.

"I know what you're thinking Optimus but I have to agree with them. I'm mad they may have attacked one of my femmes and I want something done but until we can prove they did I will do no retribution until then. I knew it was the best I could ask for under these circumstances so I nodded my head before leaving the command center and heading to my quarters with my mate right behind me. I hoped they would be back soon or they asked for help if it was needed. I have a bad feeling something might happen soon.

(Cheetor)

We kept beneath the shadows of the trees as we watched the large, black ship descend. We watched as it landed, the struts making a hissing sound as they held up the weight once everything had settled. I could feel the tension from everyone as the loading bay dock came down and several figures walked off the ship and looked around. I knew I wasn't the only one who felt their spark go cold once we recognized who the figures were.

'We're so screwed.'

Sorry for the long wait. Hope you enjoyed it. Please review.