-Personal Log: Entry #015-

After I made my case, majority vote ruled that I should return to Cybertron immediately, before my departure is interrupted by freshly repaired Predacons looking for revenge. I have pulled Alpha Seven out of hiding and charged my transwarp drive. All that remains is to make a few adjustments, and load everything up.

"What are you going to do about your mission?" Optimus asked. He and Rhinox were watching Nightshade prepare for his return journey.

"I will give Rodimus Prime my report, as I was told to do," Nightshade said, carrying some posters that he'd brought with him into his scouter. His voice floated back out through the open hatch as the Maximals watched him through the rear window, putting the posters up in the pilot's quarters. "I'll let him take it from there. I suspect he will make use of general expectations. If I am correct, the public report will be that when I got here, the aliens from the past were nowhere to be found."

"You're letting him take the floor," Rhinox said. "Clever."

"And at the same time, learning from his mistakes." Nightshade came out to grab the last armload. "The public will have some closure. They'll be disappointed, but not surprised. Some of them will wonder how much effort I actually put into searching, but otherwise, the whole thing will fade quietly into the background."

The Maximals waited while Nightshade disappeared into the Axalon. When he came out, he was carrying his radio, and the freshly charged transwarp drive. Placing the radio on the table in the pilot's quarters, Nightshade took the transwarp drive into the bridge.

"Need any help with that?" Rhinox asked, entering Alpha Seven in time to watch Nightshade crawl below the navigation console.

"Yeah," Nightshade stuck his hand out from under the console. "Could you slip me an electron torch? You'll find one hanging on the wall over there."

No sooner had he said it than the torch was between his fingers. Taking a square sheet of metal from beside him, Nightshade used the torch to cut a moderately sized circle though the center of it. Reaching into a hole in the floor, he pulled out some loose wires and threaded them through the metal. "Auto-wrench, please."

Making sure none of the wires fell back through the circle, Nightshade used the auto-wrench to bolt the corners of the sheet to the edges of the hole in the floor, and then returned the tools. "Transwarp drive."

Rhinox returned the tools to their pouch on the wall and passed the box to Nightshade's waiting hand. Nightshade connected the loose ends of the wires to the back of the transwarp drive, locking them in place.

"And that's it." He started to get up, promptly hitting the back of his head on the underside of the console. "Ow."

Five cycles later, all of the Maximals had lined up outside Alpha Seven to say their final farewells to the explorer. Nightshade was just inside the hatch, looking out at his comrades.

"Thanks for your help, Horn-head."

"No problem," Rhinox said.

"Keep running that maze, Rat-face."

"You just worry about what'll happen when I meet you at the exit," Rattrap said.

"So long, Speedy."

"Not too long, I hope," Cheetor replied.

"Bye-bye, Big Ape."

"Good luck with Rodimus," Optimus said.

"Another time, Tiger."

"Quite literally," Tigatron replied.

"Fly strong, Feathers."

"You too," Airazor said.

"And Fangs--"

"Don't waste your sentiment on me," the irascible raptor said, firing his eye-beams.

Nightshade flinched as the dual laser hit his shoulder, leaving a small burn. "I wasn't going to," he said, massaging the wound. "I was just going to tell you that this was your chance to get even for me knocking you flat." He let his hand drop. "But apparently, you already knew that."

"Naturally," Dinobot said, smiling.

Nightshade saluted, and each of the Maximals returned the gesture.

As the hatch closed, Nightshade's voice gave a final, "Till all are one." The beast warriors watched as the craft rose into the air, slowly picking up speed.

"He shot me!" Megatron said, as he emerged from the CR Tank. "He called me forward, playing me against myself, and shot me in the chest plate!"

"You okay, Megatron?" Scorponok asked.

"Such treachery. Such sheer ruthlessness. Such disregard for honor!" The saurian smiled. "I rather like this Nightshade."

"You think we'll ever see him again?" Cheetor asked, as the Alpha Seven vanished from sight.

"No," Tigatron told him.

"Why not?"

"His past is a shattered illusion, and his present purpose is fulfilled. There is nothing left of him to see." Tigatron sighed. "He may or may not return to us in the future, but he needs time to see himself with new eyes. The Nightshade we knew is gone forever."

"In more ways than one," Rhinox added. "I took another look at Nightshade's file earlier. He was reported as 'D.I.A.' five or six lunar cycles after he returned to Cybertron."

"Died in action?" Cheetor asked. "How?"

"You sure you're ready for this? Five solar cycles after Nightshade was due to return from a solo mission to Earth, Perceptor found him scattered over a mountain in two hundred separate pieces."

"But faked deaths grow steadily more elaborate as time goes by," Dinobot cut in. "And they are very popular among those who, for whatever reason, wish to break away quietly, and begin a new life."

"If that's the case," Airazor said, "then there might still be a chance."

"Maybe," Optimus replied. "I certainly hope so."

"Let the trails lead where they may," Tigatron added. "We must follow."

"Who was that dark stranger?" Rattrap joked.

The other Maximals looked at him irritably.

"I know, I know. 'Shut up, Rattrap.'"

-End Chapter Fifteen-