From here on out, automatically assume that no English is being spoken by any bot or con. English, if spoken, will be underlined.

There is going to be more stuff about Seeker family relations and culture in here. Again, most comes from Morrigayn DeWyvern. Very little is mine. Morrigayn DeWyvern, I apologize in advance for any misspellings of your terminology. I can't find your stories.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Transformers. I just play with them. I only own my OC's.

Time:

Astro-second = 1.258 Earth seconds

1 nanocycle/nanoklik = 10 seconds

1 cycle/klik = 60 nanocycles/nanokliks 120 seconds

Breem = 15 kliks 30 minutes

1 joor = 1.3 Earth days

Solar cycle/orn = 24 joor 31.557 Earth days

Vorn = 10 orn

Groon = 8 vorn

Orbital cycle = 12 groon 83 human years

Deca-cycle = 10 orbital cycles

Centi-cycle/Mega cycle = 100 orbital cycles

Communication:

:: comm. link ::

- Bondmates/sparkmates -

~: creator/creation bond :~

: sibling bond :

~ spark twin bond ~

Thoughts/memories/flashbacks/dreams

[symbiot/symbiot carrier]

Seeker Cant

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

Bladestream and Wing Saber followed the twins to the quarters that Dreadwing and Skyquake stayed in while they were visiting. The twins had something for them, but they wouldn't say what it was. Wing Saber knew that it was something important for the twins had come early this groon.

When the group entered the room, Dreadwing addressed the two. "As new sparks, you know very little about the ways of Cybertron and, more specifically, the ways of our people. I know you, Wing Saber, have been studying our ways, but I will go over it again for Bladestream has not.

"Seekers are highly social beings, more so than humans. In the Erie, the nuclear family, the creators are the highest ranking members. Every Erie is a part of a clan or Cauldron. A Cauldron is a group of Seekers who are all related by sparklink. Each Cauldron had a ruling trine. The social status and rank of the ruling trine was usually marked by special jewelry."

Skyquake removed two small boxes from a subspace pocket in his arm and placed them on a table and opened them. Inside each box were bracelets; one had more masculine ones and the other, more feminine.

"These are orbital rings. They were quite common in Vos, but most were melted down for scrap metal. Fortunately, we found some old designs that we were able to forge.

Dreadwing lifted the masculine group out of the left box. "These are yours, Bladestream. They symbolize your status as the patriarch of your Erie in your creators' absence."

Bladestream placed the silver orbital rings on his wrists. Most were thick and their swirling patterns accented his armor well.

"The patriarch also carries a scepter on his chassis at all times, but I regret that I have been unable to locate one. They are probably still in Vos. However, due to the time required to retrieve it, we cannot do it ourselves. Lord Megatron will surely notice our absence."

Dreadwing then lifted the feminine orbital rings and placed them himself on Wing Saber's wrists. "These symbolize your status as the matriarch. Your opinion will matter more than Bladestream's in most matters, but there will be times where Bladestream will lead."

He turned back to the boxes as Wing Saber examined the orbital rings. These looked more delicate than Bladestream's. They also had glass beads in blues, pinks, and greens with silver accents.

Dreadwing returned with something long in his servos. It has seven transparent, soft green, disk-shaped beads and in between each bead there were several tiny beads of pale blue, yellow and clear. Dreadwing held this strand by the ends. He placed it on Wing Saber's forehelm, the ends magnetizing to her helm under her hair.

"This helm ornament represents your place as the dominant carrier in your Cauldron. Once you five start acquiring sparkmates and bearing sparklings, you will have a say in their education, training, and have the authority to punish unruly younglings and fledglings."

He stepped back from them and Skyquake came to his side.

"Lord Megatron is preparing to visit Shockwave shortly. We don't know all the details, but it is only a matter of time before he discovers that you are missing. Your training will have to be rushed. We cannot bring you to Iacon, but we will work around that. I have a mission to infiltrate one of the Autobot strongholds. I will place encrypted information about you and your whereabouts for them to find. If all goes well, they will send someone out to investigate. They had better arrive before Lord Megatron's forces do."

"What should we do in the meantime?" Bladestream asked.

"Train hard. And prepare to leave at a moment's notice. If Wing Saber or you senses that danger is approaching, leave immediately."

"But what about Quickstrike and Razorblade?"

"They are Decepticons. They will not be accepted in the Autobot ranks and they cannot return to Lord Megatron. They will have to die here. They know what to do the moment you leave. There will be nothing left of this place."

Cruel, but necessary. Both Cons were too old to continue living as pawns in Megatron's army. Quickstrike already told Bladestream that training them was his last mission. Then he would offline himself to keep them safe.

Wing Saber nodded and the group left the room so that the family could spend their last moments with the twins.

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

Darckmount, near the Sea of Rust; Shockwave's Lab

"Out of thousands of test subjects, you have failed to produce one soldier, Shockwave. You informed me that I would not be disappointed. I was expecting better results than a servoful of half crazed mutants that can hardly follow orders!"

"I assure you, Lord Megatron, that my calculations were perfect. All I needed was time to create a few powerful subjects, which has been completed. However, I did not calculate that the subjects' sibling bonds would also survive the process. Or that the eldest mech would have such strong will."

"How many 'subjects' survived your experiments?"

"Five. Three femmes and two mechs. All you need is the eldest mech and femme. I designed those two to complement each other. The other three are just a bonus. And they can be used as a method of control for the eldest. Once their abilities fully awaken, not even Omega Supreme will be able to stand in their path."

Shockwave pulled up the stats of the five, with a list of their abilities and weaponry. Megatron grinned.

"Where are the eldest two?"

"They escaped the holding cells. I purposefully kept the blue femme in stasis so that she would be unable to aid the others, but the black and silver mech broke through all the firewalls and barriers. He also has a built-in signal cloaker, allowing him to cloak the biosignatures of all party members; making it difficult it pinpoint their location, but not impossible. He took his siblings to the Sea of Rust. I am in the process of tracking them as we speak."

Megatron was fuming. "Why didn't you tell me that them were missing?!"

"It was illogical to contact you when what you asked for is not present. In the meantime, I have been attempting to duplicate the process with little success."

"This pet project of yours is more wasting valuable resources than it is putting out results. You are to shut down your little operation and concentrate your efforts on locating your pets. I want them alive and undamaged!"

"As you wish, Lord Megatron." Shockwave said with a bow.

Megatron left, comming Soundwave to assist Shockwave with whatever he needed to locate the escaped lab rats before the Autobots found them.

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

Iacon Autobot Base; Intelligence Room

"Did you find out why the Decepticons were at Crystal City, Jazz?"

"Nope. But ah did find this."

Jazz placed a datapad in front of his leader.

"One o' the Seekers dropped it. Ah looked at it briefly. Its got details on Shockwave's latest experiment."

"I thought I told you to stop investigating that, Jazz. There is a 90% chance that it is weapon of mass destruction. We will not be able to find out much about what Shockwave is planning. There is too much security around him."

"Ah did stop, Prowler, but that Seeker was leading the mission an' ah thought that it might be something important. Ah wasn't expecting this."

"What's wrong, Optimus?" a large black mech asked.

Jazz turned to look at his leader. Optimus had a very troubled look on his faceplates. He looked like he might also be sick.

"Shockwave has extended his victims to not only his fellow Decepticons, but organics as well. He has been kidnapping thousands of organic sentient beings from different parts of the universe to make specialized super soldiers for Megatron."

"Why would he be using organics? Most beings I know about are quite small and have no outer shells or exoskeletons whatsoever. They'll offline the moment they get thrown into battle." Said a red and white stocky mech.

"He is not using them in their current state. Shockwave is transforming them into Cybertronians." Optimus said gravely.

The fell silent and stared at him.

"And he has not been successful. Most of the organic beings have offlined. According to this, there are only five beings that were considered successes. However, they escaped Shockwave's lab. The Seeker whom this datapad belongs to had direct contact with the escapees. He talks about needing a way to get them to Iacon, but can't without Megatron finding out about it."

"Does it say anything more, Prime?" the black mech asked.

Optimus shook his helm. "The last entry states that Megatron has shut down Shockwave's experiment and has ordered him to find those who have escaped and that the young ones are on their own. He can't help them."

Optimus put the datapad back on the table and rubbed his faceplates. Jazz felt for his old friend. Any loss of life cut Optimus deeply.

"So the Con's got a soft side, huh." The black mech said, crossing his arms.

"Most Seekers would want to protect a bunch of new sparks, Ironhide. That's what they were built for. Starscream is the exception to the rule." Said the white and red mech, his servos on his hip struts.

While the two mechs bickered, Jazz saw Prowl's optic ridges furrow out of the corner of his optic and it wasn't from the bickering. He was calculating something. Jazz prodded Prowl's spark. Whacha thinkin', Prowler? He wondered.

"Maybe we can assist." said Prowl.

"What?!" shouted Ironhide.

Optimus gave Ironhide a pointed glare. "What do you mean Prowl?"

"The escapees are, as Ratchet said, new sparks. Whatever they once knew from their home planets will not help them here. They are like glitchmice in a barrel for Megatron and they will be as impressionable as a sparkling."

"Aw! You used a simile, Prowler!" Jazz stated teasingly.

Prowl ignored him. "Being Shockwave's creations, there is a 99% chance they have some sort of special ability. Megatron will seek to exploit that if he can."

"What do you suggest we do?" asked Optimus.

"We see if the datapad says anything about where the new sparks are hiding and then we have someone go look for them and retrieve them."

"Ah can take a team out to Shockwave's lab an' see what we can find."

"Not until I look at your systems, you glitch! You've been avoiding my medbay for two solar cycles!"

Jazz grinned, "Ah love ya too, Ratchet!"

"The new sparks are in the Sea of Rust, where they are sustained by an underground river of energon. The Seeker has been training them, but it does not say their current race or gender. The datapad gives a general location, but no specifics." Optimus handed the datapad to Jazz. Jazz looked at the crude map of the Sea of Rust. It wasn't much, but it was enough.

"Yep, ah can get in there and figure out where they are. Ah can go as soon as this meeting is over."

"AFTER I examine you and make sure your systems are free of viruses. Last time, you brought home a virus that put half the base in the medbay!"

Jazz waved him off. "Don't worry, Ratch, ah'll come in."

Ratchet grumbled under his vents. Jazz smirked. He loved getting under Ratchet's plating. One of the fastest ways to do so was to call him "Ratch", "Hatchet", or "Docbot". He hated it when bots called him that.

"As soon as you are done with Ratchet, come to my office. We will discuss the details there. We need to move as quickly as possible if we are to find them before the Decepticons."

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

Sea of Rust; desert dwelling

It had been about two groon since Dreadwing and Skyquake left. They said that they would not be returning, but it was hard knowing that they would now have to fend for themselves. Dreadwing told them the last time he was here that he would plant information for the Autobots to find. Wing Saber hoped that the Autobots would come sooner than later. The Decepticons had a habit of being the first to arrive somewhere.

Wing Saber was currently the one on night watch duty. Since the sun hurt her optics, she took up the night watch. For the past vorn, she had this feeling that something was going to change. Last night, she felt like she was being watched. It persisted tonight. It was not a good feeling. Sometimes, she was almost sure she could see something moving in the distance among the ruins.

Again, she saw something move. This was highly upsetting. She nudged Bladestream's side of the bond, asking him to join her at the hilltop. He said he would be there in a klik. She swept the horizon. Nothing moved, but she felt like she was being watched again.

Bladestream joined her side. : What is it? :

: I feel like we're being watched. I can see something moving in the ruins. I need to check it out. :

Bladestream grabbed her arm. : Wait a minute! You don't know what's out there! :

: Of course not! That's why I need to check it out. I need you to stay here while I go see. Plus I have better night vision. Our bond will be open the entire time. You'll know if I'm in trouble. :

Bladestream reluctantly let her go. : Alright. But do not transform. Go on foot. :

Wing Saber looked him. : Do you really think I can get over there fast enough on foot? :

He shook his helm. : Never mind then. Just be careful. :

She nodded. Then she transformed and took to the skies.

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

Wing Saber circled the rusted ruins for a while looking for a stable place at the edge to land. Thankfully, the sand would silence her landing. Once she found a good spot downwind of the ruins, she transformed and landed in the soft sand. She crept up to the ruins and scaled the walls. She was thankful that she had asked Razorblade to line the bottoms of her servos and pedes with rubber. Razorblade was against the idea until she pointed out that having the upgrade would silence her pedefalls and aid in traction. He gave in after that.

She scouted around for a while before she head harsh speech followed by a clank. She headed in that direction. She came across a lighted roofless room with three mechs. Two were tall and burly with the Decepticon insignia on their shoulder armor. They were bent over a third mech with blue optics. He was less than half their size, but had the aurora of a seasoned adult. She couldn't see his insignia due to her angle, but since his optics were blue, she figured that he was an Autobot. Part of her wondered what the Decepticons were doing here, but in the back of her processor, she already knew the answer. The Cons had to be taken out. Now.

She found a place where light would not reflect off her armor and readied her bow with a poison arrow. The poison would not harm the Cons, but it would knock them into a stasis that would require a medic to fix, so they would not be waking up unless someone took them to a medic.

Wing Saber took aim at the closer Con. She aimed for his neck cables as he shouted at the blue opticed bot. She fired.

The Con was cut off and slumped to the ground. His partner shouted in surprise and turned around only to have a second arrow flying at his neck cables. He, too, went down. The Autobot stared at the offline Cons at his pedes and looked around for the culprit.

After making sure there were no more Cons in the area, Wing Saber began to climb down the rusted wall. Once on her pedes, she turned around to face the downed Cons. The Autobot was still there and the Cons were still offline. Cautiously, she walked over to the Cons and began to check them to make sure they were not reacting negatively to the poison, tucking some hair behind her audio receptor. She could feel the Autobot's optics on her the whole time.

Once the Cons were fine, she looked up at the Autobot. She now had a better angle and could see that his insignia was of an Autobot. She looked into his optics. "Designation?" she asked. The silver Autobot looked at her in confusion. She mentally smacked herself. Right. Wing Saber had gotten so used to speaking Seeker Cant, she had forgotten that very few bots outside of Seekers actually spoke it. He probably spoke Iaconian. She tried again. "Designation?"

This got a reaction. "Jazz. What's yours?"

"Wing Saber."

"Ya neutral?"

"Yes."

"If ya don't mind me asking, what are ya doing out here in the Sea of Rust?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Wing Saber said, glaring pointedly at him.

"Ah've never known a Seeker to actually want to spend more than a few nanokliks on the ground, especially where there is a lot of dirt.

Wing Saber shrugged. "It's ok, as long as you make sure you git all the sand out. Makes a longer bath, but it's all good."

Jazz fidgeted. Wing Saber looked behind him. His servos were cuffed behind his back.

"Stand up." she said.

Jazz blinked for a moment before rising to his stabilizers. Once on his pedes, she could see that he didn't come past the top of her spark chamber. And she thought she was short. She came around to his back and took a lock pick out of she subspace and got Jazz out of the cuffs. As the cuffs fell to the ground, Jazz shook his arms and rubbed his wrists. She came around to face him again.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"Ah was sent to find someone. Maybe you can help meh? Ah'm trying to find some bots that escaped the Decepticons. They were taken from offworld and used as test subjects."

"Where did you get this information?"

"Ah got it off a Con Seeker."

Wing Saber raised her optic ridges. Maybe he got it from Dreadwing?

"What kind of Seeker?"

"He was a big mech. Blue an' yellow. He was snooping around Crystal City. Why are you asking?"

This must have been the info that Dreadwing said that he planted. The Autobots must have found it and sent Jazz! Jazz must know how to get to Iacon!

"I have my reasons. I can't tell you here. There is a storm brewing to the north. Do you have adequate shelter? It's gonna be pretty bad."

"Ah'm not picking anything pick on my scanners …"

"Trust me, you won't. It's too far out. I can feel the changes in the wind. We are gonna get locked down for a few orn. I have a stable dwelling to the west. You're welcome to join me."

"Ah guess ah will come. Ah'm not a fan o' sand storms."

Wing Saber led Jazz out of the ruins. Once out in the open, they transformed and she took the lead, staying low to the ground and slightly in front of Jazz.

After a few breem of silence, Jazz drove up next to her.

"You asked meh about the Seeker earlier. Do you know 'im?"

"I do. His designation is Dreadwing. He was sent by the Ones when I needed him most. When I came online, I had no idea what Primal Heat was. When I came into Primal Heat, Dreadwing and his twin happened upon me and imprinted my spark, downloading the codes I needed to fully mature into adulthood. They have been visiting us ever since."

"Us?"

"Me and my siblings."

"How any siblings do ya got?"

"Four."

Jazz went silent. He did not speak for the remainder of the journey.

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

Nearly a joor later, they arrived at the desert dwelling. Jazz got to meet the other four siblings plus an old Con medic and old Con triplechanger. The Cons had outlived their usefulness to the Decepticon cause, so Dreadwing brought them here to train the Seekers. Jazz was told the long story of where the siblings came from and how they got to where they are now. To say Jazz was impressed would be putting it mildly. Jazz also had great concern. If the Cons Wing Saber knocked out back at the ruins failed to check in, reinforcements would be sent out. Wing Saber reassured him that the coming storm would provide adequate cover as it would naturally jam any comm. link communication. Jazz needed to contact Optimus before the storm hit.

"Is there a place where ah can make a call to Iacon? Ah need to report what ah've found here."

"If you need to talk, go outside and do it now. That storm is going to last for a couple orn." Bladestream said.

Jazz nodded and left the dwelling. He walked a ways away before contacting Optimus.

:: What is your report, Jazz? :: he asked

:: Ah've found them. Turns out, they are all brothers an' sisters. Two mechs and three femmes. Every one o' them are Seekers. All but the oldest femme has powers and abilities and the oldest mech has been reformatted into a triplechanger. The oldest mech and femme seem to be the group's protectors. The oldest femme is the firstborn. Ah have seen their skills. The Seeker ah got the datapad from has had these guys preparing to go to Iacon for groon. He's got them on such an intense training schedule that they could handle getting outnumbered by the Decepticons, but they're still rookies. As ah've said before, the firstborn femme doesn't have any powers at all. She has very keen senses, but that's all. ::

:: You will have to get them here as quickly as possible. When can you leave? ::

:: Not for a couple solar cycles. They are prepared to leave now, but a bad dust storm is coming in and it will hit in the middle o' the night cycle. The firstborn femme could sense it coming a few joors ago. It only just now popped up on meh scanners. ::

:: Let me know the klik you head out. I'll have Skyfire meet you on the outskirts of Iacon. Safe journeys. ::

:: Thanks, O.P. Jazz out. ::

Jazz ended the comm. call and headed back into the dwelling. Wing Saber returned to her night watch as the rest of the group made preparations to whether through the storm. He spoke with Bladestream about leaving for Iacon as soon as the storm lets up. Bladestream agreed and planned to discuss it with the others in the morning.

~~~~~SSSsssSSS~~~~~

I only have a couple of chapters left to this story. I will start a sequal after this one and I'll post a notice here when I do.