Astrosecond~ .498 seconds, milli-cycle~1 sec, cycle~1 min, breem~ 8.3 minutes, mega-cycle~1 hour, meta-cycle~1\2 hours, solar cycle~1 day, day~ 20 hours, orbital cycle~ 1 month, gigacycle~ 1 year, deca-cycle~10 years, vorn~ 83 years, stellar cycle~400 year, mechanometer~ 1 meter, vun~ hectometer, hic~ 1 kilometer

Thoughts, 'binary code', (alien language), "talking"

When Vibes and Perceptor reached the location, things were as bad as she had feared. A collapsed building now laid on the only road that led to Iacon and two positions were being targeted heavily by the Decepticons, one of which was a tower overlooking the collapsed building and street. The second position was the collapsed building itself. Vibes took Perceptor inside the tower near where all the fire was being concentrated at. She laid him down away from windows and out of sight from any seekers. As Vibes peered into a crake in the door ahead she found Tracks and Bluestreak using makeshift cover from a tironium door. "In the name of the creator!"

"'Till all are one!" Bluestreak responded. As with every military tactic, this was often used to inform busy soldiers of incoming allies. Listening carefully to the break in weapons fire, Vibes burst through to door and ran to her team's cover as soon as the break was heard. As soon as she reached them, the weapons began firing once more.

"Bluestreak, status report!" the Autobot demanded, sliding up against the new cover and preparing to aid in the team's attempt to fight off the Decepticons.

"About eight cycles ago one of the Decepticons was doing target practice on that building," pointing at where a lot of fire was being concentrated on. "Unfortunately the blast also gave Overhaul and Leadfoot's position away to the enemy." Vibes tried to look at the area before being forced to duck from incoming blaster fire. "I think Overhaul has been damaged but the worst part is that backup has just arrived about five cycles ago. The tanks have been hammering them for a milli-cycle or two before turning on us, rotating targets. The seekers don't make it easy either. They must really want to protect whatever."

Vibes was the only one on the team that was told of what they were after to ensure that the information couldn't be extracted from any of the team in case any of them were captured. Even if Bluestreak was a well-respected member of the team as well as one of her closest friends, she would never share military secrets with him. Vibes began forming a plan in her processors as the blaster fire drummed against her cover. Considering how revered she was from making quick on-the-spot plans, it wasn't at all a surprise that she came up with one a few milli-cycles after she began thinking of one. "Hey Blue, how fast are you with a passenger?"

Bluestreak, though confused, answered truthfully. "It all depends on the weight, otherwise without obstacles. Take away the obstacles, make the object fairly light and take away all these glitched Decepticons, it shouldn't be a problem for me to get to Iacon in about a few mega-cycles. Why are you asking Vibes?"

Vibes peered over her cover and fired accurately onto a fairly far Decepticon. Not taking the time to admire her shot, she returned to her cover. She considered what to do and simply went out with it. The mission wouldn't be completed if her team was dead, so what's the harm? "This is a top secret rescue mission. A few meta-cycles ago this city was under Autobot control. It was also were Perceptor was trying to find new ways to either detect energon caches or convert other energy sources to be almost as effective as energon. When the Decepticons learned about it, they took control of the city and captured Perceptor. We're here to rescue Perceptor." She gestured towards the door she came from, "He's badly damaged but stable."

"Perceptor? That's why our diodes are out here!" Tracks was piss at the fact that he was left in the dark about the truth of the mission.

Bluestreak looked over at the door then turned back to his Commander, "As long as the Con's don't follow I shouldn't have a problem. But what are you and everyone else going to do after that? "

"The mission must take priority. Don't worry; I'll make sure we all get out of here in one piece. Now get ready to go." I hope I can get everyone out of this.

Samara, an asari justicar and one of the most powerful biotic users know in the galaxy. Asari look like blue females who live for a thousand years with the capability of mating with any sentient species, though all of their children become asari. She was in the Starboard Observation meditating, focusing her mind and her biotic powers as to sustain the proper energy levels of the biotic orb she created between her two hands. It wasn't as simple as it seemed and it always helped her maintain a constant flow of energy should something arise suddenly. Though the orb took much of her attention, she was still aware of the world around her. She easily heard the door open behind her, as well as the sound of feet against the cold metallic floor she sat on. Without a doubt, she knew it was Shepard and she replied as such. "Shepard? Do you need something?" The justicar asked without turning or maintaining the orb in her hand.

"How are you Samara?"

Carefully releasing the profuse amount of energy the orb had in order to stop an incident from happening, the justicar easily released the orb from her hands and let it fade. Samara proceeded to stand and walked to the window not long after, looking at the void called space. She liked how patient the commander was to let her collect her thoughts and she soon replied as a response came to mind. "I've been thinking about my plans for the future."

"What have you come up with?"

She turned to Shepard with a smile, "I plan to see this to the end and then when we get through that, I will travel around the galaxy correcting any wrongs I find along the way."

"I'm happy for you, but I hope you won't be too harsh on some species."

"I will study the other races of the galaxy before I start my wonderings again, but I will miss the company you and your crew have been."

Thinking of Thane, the commander responded, "You're not the only one. I appreciate everything you've done for us." His hand easily outstretched to her, offering a hand shake.

Smiling once more and walking over to him, she returned the gesture evenly, grasping his hand in hers and shaking it with a firm grip. "The honor has been mine, Shepard. I will fight with the best of my abilities when the occasions come by."

With an appreciative nod, Shepard took a few steps back, knowing the justicar would return to her meditations, and he was right. Taking her seat back on the floor, exactly where she sat not long ago, the biotic field once again returned around her, and the orb followed not long after.

Turning to leave, Shepard took a single step out of the observatory before the justicar called out to him. "Shepard, I hope your time with young Tali will give you some peace before the coming storm."

At least she didn't play with me about it.

Without wanting to go further, he left and heard the door seal shut behind him. Shepard moved to the Life Support and found the drell assassin also meditating at the table. Drell are a green humanoid reptilian race with human like faces and many other human-like characteristics. They have two sets of eye lids and the ability to relive almost any moment in their life, the sensations as well as emotion. The drell race were saved by the Hanar, large pink jellyfish like beings that communicate through a sophisticated pattern of bioluminescence. Thane easily heard his steps as soon as he entered, and sure enough the drell knew exactly who it was. "Shepard, need something?"

"Just checking in seeing how everyone is doing." Shepard replied, feeling slightly uneasy as to how accurate he was at naming people who entered. An experiment was preformed between him and Garrus, seeing if the drell truly had the ability to identify people by how they entered and the sounds their feet emitted. As the two friends found it, he was accurate.

"My soul will depart from my body soon but I can say that working with you has allowed be to brighten the galaxy, more so than I could have ever had done on my own. I will fight until I can no longer use my body." Thane suffered from a rare condition known as Kepral's Syndrome. Due to his people moving from a desert environment to a world mostly covered in ocean, it caused drell's lungs to slowly lose the ability to take in oxygen.

Walking over to him, Shepard pulled up a chair across from Thane and sat down. "I wish we could do more for you and Kolyat."

"Don't worry Shepard; you have done more than enough for the both of us. I just hope working with C-Sec will help bring him some peace. I'm glad Amonkira and Arashu were on our side when we attacked the Collector Base. When I die, do not shed tears for me. Just make sure the Reapers do not threaten anyone ever again."

"I will Thane, and thank you." Shepard stood up from the table.

"It is I who should be thanking you, for everything." The assassin replied. As Shepard walked out the doors, Thane gave a quiet prayer, "May Arashu, Goddess of Motherhood and Protection, protect you and Tali'Zorah."

Shepard left Life Support and turned sharply to the left, soon entering the Port Observation as well as Kasumi's designated area, which she easily personalized with her acquisitions and treasures. "Hi'ya Shep, about time you showed up. At first I thought about disappearing from the galaxy after you helped me with getting Keiji's greybox, but now I think I should stick around. Who knows what kind fun you'll be getting yourself into or when you'll need something stolen?" the thief told him with at innocent smile she loved to use. She didn't let him respond as a new subject immediately came from there marked mouth, "So you and Tali finally got together huh? Don't worry I won't pry."

"You always have an ear for those kinds of things don't you?" Shepard wasn't surprised to hear her talk about it. Given how she was during conversations, he wouldn't be surprised if she was the one who spread word of his and the engineer's relationship.

"What can I say, the maintenance ducks are great." Kasumi cheered sarcastically. Shepard had gotten used to her love of pulling people's legs, but he found it increasingly troublesome when he wanted honesty from the thief. He'd just have to manage. "Sorry, I'm getting off topic. The reason I wanted to talk was about Keiji greybox." Shepard recalled Keiji's last wishes were that his greybox was to be destroyed because of the information in it. What the small device held would have serious implications against humanity, should this information be released to the Citadel Council. He found the man to be honorable for keeping the information a secret and sealing it deep in his greybox before he died. It only made him wonder as to what specifically was on that greybox. "I've been looking through the data…and if you're willing to do it, I think we can sever the Alliance's ties to this."

She had peaked Shepard's curiosity, "How bad is it?"

Knowing all too well of the dangers the data held, Kasumi chose her next words carefully. At least for the time being. "You remember how hard Councilor Velarn was against a human Spectre?" Shepard nodded remembering the turian's complaints to the very end. "If he gets his talons…claws, whatever, if he gets them on this and could somehow decrypt it, he would have more than enough data to have Councilor Anderson and most of the humans kicked off the Citadel."

Damn. "Ok I see the severity. Got any idea where we'd need to go?"

"I'm still working on that part Shep. Don't worry, as soon as I find it I'll probably knock on your door. I just hope I'm not interrupting a very intimate meeting between you and Tali."

Shepard jumped in before she could say anything else, "Is there anything else Kasumi?"

The thief gave him a brief smile before turning to the window. A few seconds passed as she stared at the stars and eventually, without turning, she spoke. "No. Just, treat Tali well, OK? She's put a lot of trust into you, you know, to remove her mask just to be with you. That took a lot of courage on her part." Kasumi turned back to Shepard once more, a mile ever present, "Just remember, Tali and I are friends. So if there's anything left after her rampage, I'm next to bat. Any who, I'm sure you'd like to know I'm pretty sure Gabby and Kenny have finally decided to be a couple."

Vibes had tied Perceptor to Bluestreak in his vehicle mode to ensure a bump, avoiding blaster fire or missiles won't shake Perceptor off before returning to Autobot H.Q. Vibes got back to the position they were at, "Are you ready, Blue?"

"As ready as I'll ever be. Perceptor is secured. I'm just waiting for the signal." His engine was revving in both fear and anticipation. The plan was for Vibes and Tracks to fire several flash-bangs and concussive explosions to distract the Decepticons. Long enough to let Bluestreak take Perceptor out of there and hopefully the rest of the team could follow soon after. Leadfoot and Overhaul have been informed through the binary code but they hadn't responded.

"Now!" Vibes and Tracks fire randomly into the air, covering their optics and audio receptors. The flashes and loud noises caused some of the seekers that got too close to crash into the other buildings and each other making craters in the road. As soon as the mayhem started Bluestreak was gone racing straight to the Autobot city. All that was left now was to get the rest of the team out safely. "Tracks keep pinning them down, I'm going in."

"Good, better your skidplate then mine," while taking opportunistic shots at the dazed Decepticons. It wouldn't last much longer as the seekers started to fly straighter.

Vibes didn't have time to walk all the way down the stairs and clear out any Decepticons in her way. Time was of the essence. She repeatedly kicked a damaged beam until it eventually gave way, falling down and making a dusty path to the debris below. She soon jumped on the beam and slid down, taking out a few Decepticons along the way. Leadfoot, Overhaul, you two better be OK.

Jumping off and ending the slide midway, Vibes took cover behind a large piece of debris and, taking some time to focus, peered to the side. As soon as she started looking inside the fallen building, the fighting started back up again. She could hear Leadfoot firing at the Decepticons and taunting them, "Come on Decepticlods! What the matter, can't take down one measly little Autobot all on his lonesome!"

Ignoring his wise-cracking, she entered the new area carefully, not wanting to risk getting shot at. It wasn't long before she spotted Overhaul who was leaning against a wall away from the fire. Leadfoot was beside him, firing rather wildly and ran to her squadmates along the safety of the debris. "Overhaul! Are you alright?"

"He's just taking a little stasis nap, Vibes." Leadfoot took cover from heavy fire at soon came from the other side. "Glad to see we weren't forgotten."

Vibes looked Overhaul over, "I'll never leave a teammate behind! What's the situation, don't we have to worry about the Cons behind us?"

"No ma'am. Overhaul collapsed enough of the building so now they're just trying to blast their way through. Climbing over would just be stupid, leaving them vulnerable to me. But that does stop a few from trying." Leadfoot fired above the door Vibes entered, hitting a drone square in the face as it was climbing the debris. He lowered his head to look at the debris two doors down. Even without a visible face his voice expressed his sadness, "Partly why he's like this now. One of the slagging drones got off a lucky shot and hit him near his central processor. I patched him up as best I could but as you can see I don't have the luxury of making sure it worked."

The repairs were holding but he needed immediate medical attention from Ratchet. I doubt the Cons will fall for the same trick twice. "Leadfoot isn't there an underground tunnel nearby?"

Leadfoot surveyed the room, "If this map is accurate we should be standing over an old maintenance shaft that might give us a straight shot to Iacon. But with all of these battles, sections could have collapsed or something and who knows what might be dwelling down there, traps, refugees or worse."

"Ok Autobots, we're leaving this city." Vibes didn't care if the Decepticons did intercept her radioing to Tracks, "Tracks get down here I have a plan."

"Ah but I was having such a lovely time. I think the seekers are going to miss me the most," the Autobot complained sarcastically with a smirk and a laugh. Taking cover as they fired on him, Tracks laughed once more before going through the path Vibes created, easily moving down the beam. Vibes and Leadfoot soon heard him come through the door Vibes had gone through earlier, though his entrance was noisier than hers. "OK, what's the plan boss bot?"

Without warning, she threw a grenade down a small hole in the center of the room they were in, "Fire in the hole!" She shouted before turning to the unconscious Overhaul and protecting him with her chassis. The others followed suit, shielding their heads from the eventually flying debris with their backs and metallic forearms. The explosion brought a wave of dust throughout the room as it cause the floor to thump once. After the explosion there was a pause for a few milli-cycles before the Decepticons continued their attack.

The new wave of Decepticon fire was easily identified as the dust in the air intensified their color, turning the weapons fire into darker shades of their normal selves. They took cover as soon as the fire broke through shards of their cover and tried to protect themselves until the dust faded from the air.

Vibes called as soon as the first hints of dust dissipated in the air. "Is everyone still online?" She could vaguely see her team members.

Her question was answered notably by Leadfoot, who peered from his cover and fired back at the incoming Decepticon forces with ease. "I'm no worse for wears."

Tracks, who had a segment of wall fall on him, easily broke through it with a cough, shaking his head and patting away the severe amount of dust on his once sleek armor. "If I wanted to be exploded, I could have stayed in the building. At least I could see them up there!"

Vibes removed the manhole cover, "Give me one of your shoulder guns, Tracks."

"WHAT! Why?" Tracks' narcissism was popping in again. Undoubtedly, he didn't want to be separated with one of his 'babies'.

"Do you want to continue functioning or not? Now give it to me!"

Grumbling he carefully removed one of his cannons, grunting annoyingly as he heard it detach, and handed it to Vibes. She took out the Decepticon arm she ripped earlier and tied the cannon onto it. She wedged the arm into the wall pointing the blaster out the window. Vibes proceeded to wrapping the finger around the trigger, ensuring the severed arm had a firm hold on the trigger. I hope Tracks has plenty of energon in it. "Alright, Autobots down the hole if you want to stay online!"

As she started to pick up Overhaul, Tracks had nothing but complaints, "What, down there? I don't know, I might want to take my chances out here. It's dark, it probably reeks and…"

Leadfoot stopped him, "And Megatron might be heading over here as we speak. I don't know about you but I'd rather not say 'hi' to old 'smash n bash' myself, how 'bout you?"

Without argument Tracks shook his head and jumped in first. Not long after the splash of landing occurred, they heard him give a disgusted grunt. "Ugh…it does stink down here."

Leadfoot shook his head and turned to his Commander, gesturing to the hatch. "After you, Vibes."

"What are you going to do?" Vibes asked, not liking the way Leadfoot said that.

"I'll hold out with that for a bit longer, help you get some more time to escape" he replied, pulling up his weapon and pointing at the makeshift autogun she made. "I'll join you as soon as I set a few charges to cover the hole. Now go!" Not giving her a chance to object, he moved over to her and pushed into the manhole, Overhaul falling with her not long after.

She landed roughly on a stable leg and knee while Overhaul was successfully grasped by the grunting Tracks. As she stood hastily, Tracks placed the stasis-bound Autobot to the side and looked up to the hatch Leadfoot once stood over, now closed roughly and sounds of weapons fire coming from the other side.

Vibes looked up to the hatch and head the sounds of fighting getting louder and louder, possibly closer to Leadfoot's location. Suddenly the binary code started, 'Sorry I had to lie to you, Vibes. Please don't blame yourself for me. I lived as an Autobot and I'll die defending more of them. If I can, I'll try to get back to Iacon but those odds aren't looking to good from here. It has been an honor to work with you and the others. Leadfoot, signing out…probably for the last time.'

Leadfoot deactivated his comm. and broke off its signal as he looked at the hatch before placing several charges in the location surrounding the area. With a sigh, he held onto his weapon and rested his weapon against his chest, waiting for the approaching Decepticons to reach him so he could give them hell. He was great in close combat, so he thought of who would win. So, me or the large number of Decepticons? I better be able to handle fifty of these punks. Holding the detonator in one hand and his weapon in the other, he was prepared.

'Leadfoot…Leadfoot respond…Leadfoot answer me…That's an order soldier!' Vibes called out in the binary code. All she was getting back was white noise. She handed Overhaul to Tracks, "Here take him back to base. I'm going back to help Leadfoot."

"What, help get slagged too? No way Vibes! Leadfoot gave his spark to save our skidplates. Don't waste what Leadfoot wanted by going back up there." Tracks complained. He was no stranger to watching the destruction of friends.

"No, I can give him more time…distract some of the Decepticons…we could have all gotten out of there together. Frag it!" she surrendered to what option she was left with. She punched the wall in anger, hearing the wall crack slightly as well as echo through the long corridor they would have to travel through.

"Sorry Vibes. I wish he could have thought of a better plan then this." Tracks replied, placing his hand on his Commander's back.

Vibes shrugged off the hand and thought about something for a few milli-cycles before she said anything, "No, the Decepticons would have headed straight for Iacon, catching up to Bluestreak and Perceptor or cutting us off by collapsing sections of the tunnels. He realized all that before me. If we could have just held out just a few more cycles… Come on Tracks, let's get Overhaul home."

Moving over to her stasis-bound team member, she flung one of Overhaul's arms around her back. Tracks helped her, doing the same with the opposite arm. With a nod gesturing their friend was stable between them, they started the long walk back to base.