Reckoning

Chapter 5-Chance

Disclaimer: I don't own the Transformers. They officially belong to Hasbro and Takara. I'm taking them for a short spin.

Another day, another argument with the humans. Cade drank his morning coffee, sitting on the trailer steps, listening and watching as Charlotte Mearing became more belligerent as the seconds ticked by. Bumblebee stood by Cade, and they listened to the exchange.

"One of your kind brought weapons of mass destruction to our planet," Mearing said.

"The Decepticons brought space bridge pillars," Ultra Magnus replied. "And you gave them exactly what they wanted. We're almost done here. Once again, I'm going to ask you to cease and desist, and leave Cade Yeager's property. . ."

And the humans scattered as the hammer Ultra Magnus held slipped from his hand and he hit his knees, purging energon.

Bumblebee whistled in alarm.

"What the hell, Bee?" he said.

The scout shrugged, watching as the commander of the Wreckers stumbled to his feet, and disappeared in a shaft of light

Bumblebee left Cade, heading for the barn, leaving a confused human behind.

88888

The Autobots on the Knight ship were becoming more cautious. Perceptor's unsanctioned jaunt had indeed discovered a sealed corridor, and Kup figured only Primus knew what was down the corridor behind a sealed door.

The ship was big, and at one time, he'd been as familiar with it as he was his own frame. He knew it inside and out, and kept using his own memories of the ship and his obviously outdated map to compare it with the renovations done by Lockdown, and so far, there were no surprises. None until Perceptor's discovery.

Having served two expeditions on the ship, he knew were things were supposed to be, and guessed the closed off parts were done after the expeditions, and before it was stolen. The area had been marked on the original plans as a backup computer system and storage space. So far, all their attempts to scan what was behind the closed doors was unsuccessful, as the area was shielded and untouched by Lockdown. Kup wondered what they would find.

Something to deal with later. He wasn't daunted by the ship's size. The others were, and after the incident the night before involving Perceptor, his discovery and a pack of steeljaws, everyone was on edge. The scientist was all right, and they were patrolling in pairs now.

Kup shuddered. The steeljaws were Vile, deadly creatures, abominations created by the Quintessons. Better off dead, so they were
hunting every last one. The bots had a betting pool going, seeing who
could tally the most. A second pool had included unique and creative
ways to kill them, but after Sunstreaker ended up having to go to
Brainstorm for his injuries, Elita shut them down. Only the first
betting pool was still going.
Blurr, so far, had the most kills, followed by Kup's lads. No surprise
there. They were efficient and were experienced with working together.
Well, not like he gave them much choice when it came to working
together in the beginning. They actually preferred it now. Good thing
too, because not many regular Autobots had the tanks to deal with
Wreckers.
Speaking of Wreckers, the ancient mech was on his way to the command center, where Perceptor and Brainstorm were almost done running through the mainframe's code. Once they were done, they would try bringing the ship's AI back online.

Before they shut it down, it wasn't what Kup would call "sane." He was almost to his destination when an alarm went off, and dormant drones came to life, weapons bared.
Kup ran, only to find his way blocked by more drones. But Hot Rod and Springer were right behind him, cutting through the drones. keeping them from the command center, opening a space big enough for Elita-1 to follow after Kup.

Once inside, Kup and Elita saw Perceptor and Brainstorm working swiftly to try and stop the self-destruct countdown. Glyphs flashed on the screens, and Kup called up a key pad, entering his old command overrides. And the countdown stopped. Dead silence for a few moments as the system rebooted.

"Query—ship in safe hands?" a voice asked.

"The ship is back in Autobot hands," Kup said. "You're safe."

"Autobot Kup?"

"Yeah, that's me," Kup said. "Temenos, what's the last thing you remember?"

Another round of silence before it. . .he, Kup corrected himself, replied.

"Lockdown hurt you," Kup said. "It's OK. You're safe, among friends. Whatever he did to you, we've got it fixed, I think."

He glanced at Brainstorm, who nodded.

"Yeah. Mostly. We can talk about what you remember later. Right now, we have bigger problems. Like the drones running around."

Before Kup could say another word, a pulse passed through the ship, killing the drones.

Kup sagged against the control panel, Elita collapsing beside him.

"That was fun," Elita said.

"Just like old times," Kup grinned, looking up as his sons joined them.

"Sure, old-timer," she said, grinning at Springer's slack-jawed stare, and Hot Rod's amusement.

"Stop gawkin' sparkling, and make yourself useful," Kup said as he stood, pulling Elita to her feet. "You know Lita and I go way back. Or do I need to tell you that story again?"

"I'll tell it," Elita said. "You leave out all the good parts."

"Not again," Springer muttered. Hot Rod smacked him in the back of the head.

"Well, as entertaining as that was, we need to get rid of those drones," Elita said.

"Or we can use them," Kup suggested. "Tememos, can you reactivate the drones and use them to help clean this place up?"

"Yes," he answered.

"One more problem solved," Elita said. "Brainstorm, Perceptor, now this is taken care of, can you see to the engines?"

"Yes ma'am," Perceptor said, dragging his companion away.

"No unsanctioned exploration. Stick to the engines. We'll deal with the really interesting stuff later," Elita said. "Hot Rod, Springer, go with them. Keep Brainstorm from doing anything he isn't supposed to, and keep Perceptor on task. They need to repair those engines, not work on preparing me a paper on how they work."

The two mechs followed the scientists out.

"I'll be glad when we can rejoin others," Elita said. "C'mon old-timer. Let's go see what trouble we can scare up together."

88888

Ultra Magnus was seriously considering all the reasons why he purged so violently, and none of them but a couple seemed truly viable. The most obvious he wasn't considering as an option. No. But only a trip to First Aid would settle him. So he headed for the med bay.

He didn't hesitate as he reached the doors. Confronting issues head on was always the best course of action. Magnus entered, and wasn't in the mood for Aid's pleasantries.

"I purged while talking with the humans, and I think something might be wrong," Magnus said, sitting down on a berth.

"Did you. . ."

"I took my morning ration of energon, so that's not the problem," Magnus said. "I don't think so, at least."

"Then what do you think is the matter?"

"Just scan me, please," Magnus said.

The medic complied, and minutes later, Magnus was dismissed from the med bay.

Wheeljack, do you have a moment? Magnus asked through their bond.

For you always. Where are you?

Quarters. Magnus replied, letting himself into their quarters. He sat down, calling up the image the medic gave him. The holo rotated over his outstretched hand, and he didn't bother to shut it down as Wheeljack entered, and joined him.

The engineer studied the holo, noting it was a sparkling roughly two-thirds into its gestation.

"It's a sparkling," he said. "Who's sparked?"

"We are," Magnus said.

"How. . ." Wheeljack asked, sitting down to keep himself from falling over.

Magnus rolled his optics.

"I mean when?"

"Velocitron. After Blurr's farewell party. We were overenergized and I had to drag you back to the ship. You honestly don't remember?"

"I remember," Wheeljack said. "Parts of it."

"I'm never letting you on top again," Magnus muttered.

"Hey—that party was awesome. Almost as good as our bonding party," Wheeljack said.

Magnus snorted. Nothing would ever top that party.

"Nice memory and all, but that still doesn't explain how we're suddenly expecting a sparkling," Wheeljack said.

"Faulty inhibitor," Magnus said. "First Aid said he'll have to replace it after the emergence."

"So this kinda is my fault," Wheeljack said, sounding smug. "It looks like a mechling. Is it?"

"Yes," Magnus said.

Wheeljack squealed, pouncing his mate. "Mags, I'm so happy," he said. "This is great news."

Magnus wrapped his arms around the engineer, burying his face in his neck.

"But you're not excited, are you?" Wheeljack asked, pulling away.

"I haven't had time to process the news," Magnus said. "And the timing isn't the best."

"Timing? Who cares? It's a blessing," Wheeljack said. "At least Chromia and Elita's Salvo will have a playmate now."

"He has playmate in his sister," Magnus said.

"Who is suddenly too good to play with her baby brother," Wheeljack said. "Look, we'll get through this. Besides, we've kept putting this off, because it's never the right time. Looks like it's the right time now."

88888

The rest of the day was a fog for the commander of the Wreckers. He blazed through the required reading of sparkling care, and reported to First Aid for an injection of supplements, and made changes to the duty roster and went over reports. His last official matter for the day was the report he was expecting from the Knight ship. But he wasn't expecting Elita-1 to be the one to talk to him.

The femme appeared on the screen in his office.

"The ship isn't a problem anymore," Elita said.

"Good evening to you too, Elita," Magnus said.

The femme snorted. "It's been a long day," she said.

"What do you mean about the ship being a problem?" he asked.

The femme was suddenly staring at her feet. "I'll put in my report," she said.

"Elita. . ."

"No. It's not important right now. We've got the dark matter engines up and running again. As soon as the final system check is finished, we'll be there," Elita said.

"How long will that take?"

"It'll be done anytime," she said.

"Any other issues I need to know about? Has the ship bestowed weapons on anyone else?" Magnus said.

"Springer received a sword," Elita said.

"Primus," Magnus muttered.

"It doesn't have to mean anything," ELita said.

"You know what it means," Magnus said. "Prime and Protector."

"They're sibs," Elita said. "That's all."

Sure. That's all it meant.

"Just get here," Magnus said, ending the conversation.

88888

Cade was sitting on the couch, half watching a movie. Tessa sat beside him, reading. She'd been silent all evening after a tiff with Shane. Stupid kid, anyway.

"You missed the fun," Cade said.

"What happened now?"
"Magnus puked all over the place this morning," Cade said.

"Eww," Tessa said. "Did he get Mearing?"
"No. Unfortunately. He did scare the hell out of everyone, and the bots are freaked, Tess," Cade said.

"I would be too if I saw something that big puke all over the yard," Tessa said. "Is he OK?"

"I don't know. Haven't heard anything from the ship since Mags left," Cade said. "Talked to Bee, and he didn't offer anything useful."

"Is there any good news?" Tessa asked.

"The feds are sending someone new, who should be here tomorrow," Cade said. "Theodore Galloway. Bee seems relieved."

"Wasn't he the national security director during the thing in Egypt?" Tessa said.

"Yeah," Cade said. "The bots trust him, and I think they've got something unpleasant planned for Mearing."

"Let's hope so," Tessa said.

88888

Morning came, and with it, the Knights Temenos. The ship was anchored beside the Eclipse.

Ultra Magnus waited below the ship as a landing ramp extended. Elita-1 came down first.

"Thank PRimus you're back," Magnus said, hugging the femme.

"What did Arcee do this time?"

"She's a force to be reckoned with," Magnus said.

A nice way of saying her daughter was a hellion. Already.

"She wants off the ship," Magnus said. "I think some time planetside would do her good."

"You trust these humans?"

"I trust Cade and his family," Magnus said. "Not Mearing. I told them not to bother trying to communicate with us as long as she's part of their delegation. We requested Galloway again, and he's supposed to be here today."

"Has Prowl managed to uncover any information on the whereabouts of any of the NEST humans?"

"No," Magnus said. "I'm assuming the worst."

Perfect. But none of it answered what her oldest child tried this time.

"What did Arcee pull?"

"Ask Prowl," Magnus said. "He caught her. And he's currently watching Salvo. Elita, go see your family. I'll schedule a debriefing for tomorrow morning."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. Go. It can wait," Magnus said.

88888

Prowl sat in the captain's chair on the bridge of the Eclipse, reading a data pad. Salvo rested happily in his arms, and the little mechling chirped, patting at Prowl's face. He smiled down at the sparkling.

"Mags is gonna blow when he sees you've got the bitlet here on the bridge. Or Chromia."

Springer. The spawn of Unicron, and the bane of Prowl's existence was back.

Prowl shrugged, and went back to running battle simluations in his head, and reading his data pad.

"Miss me, Prowlie?" Springer said, tweaking one of the mech's door wings, using the twins' nickname for him.

"Don't you have something useful to do?" Prowl asked, and he was saved when Elita-1 arrived.

She took Salvo away from the tactician. "Miss me love?" she asked, and Salvo chirred up at his carrier.

"That's my mechling," Elita said. "Where's your sister?"

She noticed the look passing between triple changer and tactician.

"What did she do this time?"

"Tried to sneak onto a shuttle," Prowl said. "I caught her."

"Of course," Elita said, exventing, and shoving an energon line absentmindedly into her son's waiting intake. "Did Chromia flip?"

"Of course," Prowl said. "You should have seen the fireworks."

"That bad?" Elita asked.

Prowl shrugged. "I'd take it up with her," he said.

Knowing a dismissal when she heard it, Elita dragged Springer away.

"Flirting with the tactician again?" Elita asked.

Springer tripped over a deck plating.

"What? No. Are you crazy?" And he realized he was questioning the sanity of the femme commander.

"Easy. Go get some rest. Primus knows we all need it," she said.

88888